CRTC chairman accused of exceeding authority with panel appointments
TORONTO — An outspoken regional commissioner at Canada’s telecom watchdog is alleging that chairman Jean-Pierre Blais has violated some of the bylaws that govern the commission, court documents show.
In a filing to the Federal Court of Appeal on Thursday, Raj Shoan, Commissioner of Ontario is seeking a judicial review of a decision made by the chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to name three panels to hear matters related to the telecommunications and other governing acts.
Shoan argues that these panels were convened without the direction of the Telecommunications Committee, which, under the bylaw, consists of all the members of the commission and can initiate proceedings, among other responsibilities. Shoan alleges that Blais exceeded his authority in making these appointments.
Blais has “erred in law and/or exceeded his jurisdiction by unilaterally convening and naming three panels,” the court documents say, arguing that the law doesn’t give the chairman the power to initiate proceedings without consulting the entire commission. Shoan is asking the court to overturn the appointments.
This is the latest salvo in an ongoing clash between Blais and Shoan, who has repeatedly questioned Blais’ leadership and has said the consolidation of power under the chairman is a threat to the integrity of the CRTC.
Before this dispute and in response to a complaint, Blais instigated a third-party investigation that found Shoan had harassed a CRTC employee via email. Shoan previously filed a notice of application for a judicial review of how Blais has responded to the findings of the third-party investigation.
In a statement published Friday, Shoan said: “In my view, this ‘council of equals’ is being jeopardized by unilateral decision-making by the chairperson of the CRTC in contravention of existing CRTC bylaws. It is my hope that, through this review, a fair, balanced and independent governance structure will be restored at the CRTC.”
CRTC spokeswoman Patricia Valladao declined to comment directly on the case. She said that the CRTC holds an average of 400 decisional meetings each year and issues 700 decisions, adding that Shoan — one of nine commissioners — has served on 16 public or non-appearing panels since he was appointed in 2013. That is “considered a fair number,” she said. “But there’s many other (commissioners) to be in panels.”
“To effectively manage the workload, the CRTC’s chairperson has been appointing commissioners to be a part of those panels since the 1970s,” Valladao said Friday. She said he was authorized to make these appointments by a clause in the CRTC Act that states that “the chairperson is the chief executive officer of the commission, has supervision over and direction of the work and staff of the commission and shall preside at meetings of the commission.”
Shoan has been nominated as a panelist for just one of the 18 panels listed for 2015, according to the court filing.
In an email sent Sept. 24 to Shoan and the other commissioners, Blais writes that the underlying premise of Shoan’s questions about the chairman’s authority to name panels is “inaccurate” and “continuing this discussion will be wasteful of the Commission’s resources” since “you will clearly never be persuaded otherwise.”
Blais wrote that both the commission’s lawyers and external counsel determined that Blais does have the authority to name panels.
In an email sent on Sept. 28, Shoan appeals to his colleagues at the CRTC to speak out against Blais and the centralized power structure that he believes has been created.
“(Blais) is transforming the Commission’s governance such that all major decisions run through the Office of the Chairperson and dissident Commissioners are ostracized,” Shoan writes. “I beg you to stand with me to oppose the decisions to strikes these panels — through whatever mechanism or forum is deemed best.”