There is a pervasive belief in Canada that wireless phone-service prices are a rip-off. To suggest otherwise is heresy. Countless commentaries provide fodder for this belief, and every few years a politician takes on the purported problem. In the mid-2010s, for...
We have not reached the technological point where we can expect to see driverless vehicles plying our roadways, yet. However, as a recent incident on the QE2 highway in Alberta has demonstrated, we might be edging closer than some of us might have thought. How close...
As a science and technology aficionado who believes in using science to promote human health and prosperity, I was startled to find myself being classified as a Luddite in a recent commentary by authored by a Frontier Center research associate. The commentary was...
Recently we have heard a lot of discussion about whether various social media companies should be broken up or regulated, due to antitrust violations and whether they have the right, or responsibility, to monitor and censor the content of their user’s posts and...
The Canadian Dream is increasingly being realized in smaller areas For decades, Canadians moved to the larger cities (census metropolitan areas, or CMAs) with their economic opportunities. The latest estimates indicate that CMAs have 72 per cent of the nation’s...
When the Premiers were first called to a sit-down lunch to talk about healthcare with Prime Minister Trudeau, there was plenty of talk about the potential for systemic change, innovation and accountability. It seemed that Canadians and their leaders were finally on...
Technology has radically transformed many industries, from manufacturing and textiles to travel agencies or the entertainment business. Many have greatly suffered before accepting their fate and adapting to a new digital world. Now, the wider arts industry is in the...
What does the federal government’s policy to enhance wireless competition look like the morning after the 700 MHz spectrum auction results were announced? We have another player, Videotron, in BC and Alberta. Videotron, Quebec’s largest cable company, has...
The federal budget provides for $305 million for rural and northern broadband access. There are no details yet on the structure of the program. How this is structured and delivered will be key to its success. There are a wide range of options of what...
The year 2014 will see more key developments in broadcasting around the world and in Canada. These developments are all related to the topics we have addressed under InfoComm, from Usage Based Billing (UBB) for Internet access service to rebuilding the Last...
Today the CRTC announced a new exercise in participatory democracy, directly consulting the public on the future of the television system in Canada. http://www.crtc.gc.ca/eng/archive/2013/2013-563.htm Although this is meant to be in keeping with the government’s...
Where are the federal Conservatives headed on policy? Over the past year there have been some odd priorities, at least to my mind. My favourite odd ducks are: 1 - Making a new training program a key plank of the last budget, pushing into provincial...
Randal O’Toole, National Post, October 8, 2013 Monday, Oct. 7, marked the 100th anniversary of the opening of Henry Ford’s moving assembly line for producing the Model T. This innovative production system allowed Ford to double worker pay while cutting the...
Two new studies on wireless competition in Canada were released last week. Also, Bell announced that it was cutting roaming rates to the U.S. “Wireless Competition in Canada: An Assessment” is by Jeffrey Church of the University of Calgary’s School of Public...
The Fraser Institute has come out in favour of dropping the remaining foreign ownership restrictions in the telecom industry as the way to solve our current policy issues in the wireless sector. Reducing and eventually eliminating the foreign ownership restrictions is...