How Blais shook up telecom industry

He prided himself on standing up to industry and putting consumers and broadband at the centre of Canada’s communications system. Industry players may clash over the success of his policies and his leadership, but no one could accuse Jean-Pierre Blais of anything but a dogged pursuit of his agenda during his five years as chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Blais’ term ended Saturday, leaving the regulator without a permanent leader as cabinet aims to fill his position “as expeditiously as possible,” Privy Council spokesman Paul Duchesne said in an email.

At his live-streamed farewell party at the CRTC’s Gatineau headquarters on Friday, Blais said he didn’t reapply for his job because the organization achieved the goals he set in 2012.

Blais wasn’t concerned about making friends in the industry, which he contends formerly enjoyed a too-close relationship with the regulator. He shut down BCE Inc.’s first attempt to buy Astral, threatened to regulate Netflix if it didn’t divulge subscriber numbers (it didn’t) and got rid of off-the-record meetings. In his final speech at a media conference this week, he blasted the federal government, content creators, broadcasters and the CBC.

He was concerned, however, about getting people involved in public hearings. The commission started online surveys and even solicited comments from Reddit for the first time.

His relationships with CRTC colleagues also made the headlines. His clash with former Ontario commission Raj Shoan, who is suing the government for his job back after being fired twice, apparently muddied the atmosphere in the upper rankings.

In the midst of the drama, the government had trouble hiring a candidate last fall because it didn’t get a wide enough pool of candidates. It hasn’t hired a new full-time commissioner since fall 2015. Jean-Pierre Blais, Chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, ended his term on Saturday after stating that the organization had achieved the goals he had set in 2012.