ADR files GIC petition over ignored emergency alert system

The federal cabinet should overturn a spring CRTC decision mandating wireless service providers establish a system for emergency alerts so that a Quebec-based emergency information service can participate in the proceeding, Avis de Recherche (ADR) argued in a petition to the governor in council. ADR developed its own wireless public alerting system back in 2009, according to the petition dated May 11 to appeal the April decision, which said that requiring wireless providers “to distribute emergency alert messages on mobile devices would be in the public interest and would help protect Canadians from imminent threats to life and property.” The CRTC knew about its application, but ADR was not invited to participate in the proceeding launched in March 2016, the group said. ADR’s application “is functional and can be adapted and reinstalled in Quebec within approximately 2 months, and expanded to the rest of Canada within 4 months,” it said, adding that the estimated cost for its service was $0.02 per month per cellular phone user. The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) said during the proceeding that the new system would cost between $18 million and $25 million to set up. ADR had spent time in front of the commission in its ultimately unsuccessful bid to have its television channel retain its mandatory carriage status back in 2013. It filed subsequent complaints in Federal Court against the CRTC’s decision and with the CRTC to stop TV providers from dropping the channel. “ADR expressly mentioned the existence of this technology during the 2013 hearing on its licence renewal, emphasizing that in addition to broadcasting, ADR had also developed and was operating a wireless public alerting application,” the petition said, adding that “unaware of the upcoming hearing, ADR also wrote the CRTC’s J.P. Blais on March 14, 2016 and ADR again pointed out that it had developed the technology, which the CRTC is now seeking to be developed and implemented.” The group said it didn’t hear about the consultation until it saw media coverage in September, well after the May 30 intervention deadline, because “unlike large entities, ADR does not have staff that monitors CRTC bulletins that are published.” The history between ADR and the regulator indicates “that the CRTC decision can only be explained by bias, improper and/or collateral considerations, which continues to this day,” the petition said. There is precedent for the CRTC to inform stakeholders of upcoming proceedings that would be of interest to them, ADR said, noting “that in 2006, CRTC’s staff informed ADR’s Vincent Géracitano of the upcoming public hearings for granting of Mandatory Distribution to ‘Public Interest’ services and suggested ADR apply.” Not informing ADR of the wireless alert proceeding is “due to the bias of the CRTC and its chair, Jean-Pierre Blais, and their refusal and failure to give consideration to all relevant facts and viable options to the prejudice of the Canadian public,” the petition said. It added: “Indeed, a wireless public alert system already exists, yet the CRTC imposes an expensive untested alternative with a 2 year wait. The CRTC had the obligation to perform its due diligence in impartial manner and consider all existing solutions prior to imposing costly untested alternatives on the Canadian public.” ADR’s petition is for one of two CRTC decisions the federal cabinet is currently being asked to appeal. The other, stemming from the changes to program spending requirements in May’s licence renewal decision, has resulted in a total of 89 petitions for the government to intervene. Notice of the petitions for either decision has yet to be posted in the Canada Gazette. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

ADR files GIC petition over ignored emergency alert system

News | July 11, 2017

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ADR files GIC petition over ignored emergency alert system

News | July 11, 2017

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