The irony of the government over-ruling the CRTC is that it was the government who over-ruled the CRTC in the first place and ordered it to make this decision.

The reason the CRTC made this decision is because Maxime Bernier under the Conservative Government, over-ruled the CRTC in 2007, (in response to a CRTC ruling that promoted competition in the home telephone market by preventing the ILECs from slashing home phone rates) telling it to "rely on market forces to the maximum extent possible". In other words, don't interfere with private companies doing business.

This policy directive has had far reaching negative implications. Canada was already slipping behind in telecommunications but the pace has accelerated now that the CRTC has been effectively prevented from doing their job.

Given that the "market force" in Canadian Telecom is one of a monopoly, or at best a duopoly, it shows just how ill informed the Conservatives are on telecom policy.

More info with links to consumer group studies if you're interested:

http://www.johnlange.ca/2010/12/30/conservative-government-phone-deregulation-fails-consumers/

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