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CRTC Practices in Question
Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal - Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars
OTTAWA - Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper was notified more than two years ago of questionable activities amongst industry and government officials and has not taken action on this issue. At stake is more than $C 1.2 billion in fees collected from millions of Canadian consumers under a misleading pretence.
A submission made by Canadian citizen Keith Mahar's legal counsel has not been addressed by the prime minister. At issue are actions taken by officials at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) that have unjustly enriched cable corporations for more than a decade. An extensive breakdown of these actions is found on www.mediascam.com.
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Ontario
Securities Commission (OSC) have been requested to investigate potential
violations of New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
listing standards on corporate governance by Rogers Communications and Shaw
Communications. The request has been made by legal counsel for Mr. Mahar, a
Rogers and Shaw shareholder who is a social worker, precedent-setting public
interest litigant (Mahar v. Rogers Cablesystems Ltd. 1995), and former
corporate insider in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
"Prime Minister Harper introduced the Federal Accountability Act but
apparently media companies and the CRTC are exempt from accountability and
above the law," stated Mr. Mahar.
As posted on www.mediascam.com, documents were made available to the SEC
and OSC that demonstrate that the corporations may have breached Canadian law.
The OSC has also been asked by Mr. Mahar to review the activities of Cogeco
and Quebecor.
"Citizens and journalists are invited to review the documents on
Mediascam.com and judge for themselves whether or not Prime Minister Harper's
decision to ignore this matter has been in the public interest", Mr. Mahar
added.
This afternoon Mr. Mahar appeared at the CRTC public hearing on the
Canadian Television Fund (CTF), a program operated as a partnership between
industry and government which is central to the activities in question. He
noted that the federal agency had destroyed documents related to the issue and
urged Commissioners to formally review the outstanding issue.
For further information: Keith Mahar, (613) 236-5000 (until Friday, 8 February
2008), info@mediascam.com, www.mediascam.com; Mailing address: P.O. Box
108, Mawson ACT 2607, Australia
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