In this episode of We Fight for That, PIAC's staff lawyer Tahira Dawood interviews Keldon Bester, Executive Director of the Canadian Anti-monopoly Project (CAMP) about CAMP's latest report "From Plow to Pantry: Monopoly in the Canadian Food System".

New PIAC Executive Director and General Counsel, Geoff White, is pleased to take the reins of the podcast and interviews Denis Hearn and Vass Bednar about their urgent, clear and accessible book, "The Big Fix", which seeks to explain why Canada has a competition problem and how to fix it.

Returning guest Monica Auer, Executive Director of the Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) discusses the shortcomings of present CRTC practice through the lens of the major efforts to amend and implement the Online Streaming Act (which amends the Broadcasting Act) in an effort supposedly to increase the amount and quality of Canadian content (CanCon). Monica notes that the CRTC's lackadaisical approach to evidence (data, procedural shortcuts) means that Parliament's objectives for CanCon are unmeasurable.

In this, the first of five podcasts on where the CRTC has gone astray, PIAC speaks with Ted Woodhead, Woodhead Regulatory Consulting Inc., former Chief Regulatory Officer and Government Affairs at Rogers Communications, about the public's and the communications industry's need for speedier decisions, more predictable outcomes and transparency in process and results. Ted brings his experience with Rogers, and previously with not only TELUS but also his time at the Commission to provide keen insight and measured analysis of what ails the CRTC. At risk of agreeing too much, we turn the conversation to the Rogers-Shaw merger, where Ted gamely defends the the deal after some mild criticism, before we turn to whether prices for wireless are really coming down (they're not), but Ted argues they clearly are - a new take on a Canadian debate for the ages.

We recap the inaugural appearance of Professor Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, before the CRTC, in which his statement and answers to the Commissioners' questions maybe revealed more about CRTC assumptions about the public interest and consumer interest than about how much money should go to whom under the new version of the Broadcasting Act.

PIAC speaks with George Burger, VMedia Chief Operating Officer, about the post-Rogers-Shaw competitive environment and why VMedia's acquisition by Quebecor Media Inc, is different, and better, for consumers than all of the other acquisitions of independent ISPs that followed. George is very convincing and he almost had us there, hoping against hope. In any case, we troll through the wreckage of the Canadian Internet market after its torpedoing by the CRTC's wholesale Internet rate reversal in 2021 and to some extent the prospects for Freedom to be good again. We'll see.

Ben Klass rejoins the podcast to discuss the dramatic holiday time decision(s) of the Competition Tribunal of Canada allowing (?) the merger of Rogers and Shaw, the Competition Bureau's instant stay and appeal of the CT decision and the upcoming Federal Court of Appeal hearing on the deal. We opine about the state of the market if the Competition Tribunal decision stands. It's not good folks.

Globalive's Simon Lockie joins the podcast to give the inside scoop on a past and future competitor's efforts to start a fourth national wireless company and whether Globalive can acquire Shaw's "Freedom Mobile" assets if Shaw (or Rogers) must sell them to obtain regulatory approval of the larger Rogers-Shaw deal, which is now before the Competition Tribunal.

We discuss Bill C-27, the Consumer Privacy Protection Act, Personal um, something AI and a tribunal, I think? It does not matter, because the federal government took the last bill ('the other' Bill C-11) to try to replace the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and MADE IT WORSE. Wow.

Returning guest Ben Klass and host John Lawford discuss the major outage of Rogers Communications Inc's wireless and Internet services experienced on 8 July 2022, the possible regulatory outcomes and consumers' expectations for what they might expect as compensation and future rules to avoid this situation in the future.

NOTICE TO LISTENERS: THIS EPISODE DISCUSSES A RACIAL SLUR (BUT WE DON'T USE IT) Returning guest Monica Auer of Canada’s Forum for Research and Policy in Communications (FRPC) discusses the procedural and legal oddities of the CRTC's N-word decision such as why this decision was not dealt with as part of the CBC's licence renewal proceeding, which ran in parallel, and whether the decision can be appealed or petitioned to Cabinet.

In this Part 2 of two episodes on Bill C-11 - the "Online Streaming Act" we speak with Scott Benzie of Digital First Canada, a group representing Canadians making user-generated content on social media and related platforms. We discuss PIAC's proposal of "statIc" versus "dynamic" discoverability as a method to reach a compromise between promotion of Canadian content and user-generated content. Part 2 of 2 part special.

PIAC discusses, once again, Bill C-11 - the "Online Streaming Act" which is an Act to Amend the Broadcasting Act, to, among other things, require "Internet broadcasters" to be registered under Canadian law and contribute to the creation of "Canadian content" or more simply, "CanCon". We recap PIAC's appearance before the Standing Committee on Heritage at the House of Commons and in particular, detail our idea to "fix" C-11, in particular, the user-generated content issue. Part 1 of 2 part special.

We talk with University of Ottawa Master's in Law student, Guarav Arora, PIAC's unofficial cryptocurrencies expert after an internship at PIAC, about all things crypto and the blockchain that you wanted to know but were afraid to ask: NFTs, ICOs, metaverses, stablecoins, de-fi, DAOs and smart contracts, etc., etc. and how some of it could be used to improve financial services for consumers but how, at present, many financial and consumer risks (fraud anyone?) and regulatory challenges must be overcome first. Hopefully the first of many on this issue!

Howard Maker, Commissioner of the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), whew!, the long-named ombudsman for telecommunications and paid television services, comes on the We Fight for That podcast to describe how Canadian consumers can get free, independent help with problems they cannot work out with Internet, wireless, home phone and TV providers.

Geoff White, Executive Director and General Counsel at the Competitive Network Operators of Canada (CNOC) joins us to discuss why the CRTC is so slow to issue decisions and what effect that has on all telecommunications providers, but especially smaller competitive ones, like CNOC members.

We discuss competition law in Canada and how it affects consumers with Anthony Durocher, Deputy Commissioner, Competition Promotion Branch at the Competition Bureau of Canada. Turns out the Competition Bureau not only enforces the law (reviews mergers, looks for anti-competitive cartels and other acts, polices misleading advertising) but also "promotes" competition. How? Well, this includes encouraging consumers to switch service providers on key services like banking, telecommunications and insurance and by warning consumers and businesses of fraud and providing practical tips to avoid becoming a victim.

Sarah Bradley, the Ombudsman and CEO of the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI) joins PIAC to talk about how retail investors in Canada can complain about their investment problems, both to their investment advisers and to the OBSI, the single-source independent investment ombudsman service. OBSI is free but needs some additional powers to make its decisions truly effective and we talk that through.

We explore how consumers in Canada can make a complaint about banking services (mortgages, loans, lines of credit, credit cards, joint accounts, etc. etc.) both to their own bank and to third party ombudsmans. Sorry, did you say "ombudsmans"? Yes, I did - we have competing dispute resolution services or "external complaints bodies" in Canada. Why? No reason. But we do our best to tell you how to navigate this Kafka-esque space, what to look for and how to react.

Where would you like these lumps of coal? I have so many for you consumers. 2021 has been bountiful. More to come in 2022!