CRTC chair Francoise Bertrand is leaving the tv/telecom regulator as of Feb. 15, 2001 to join Montreal-based Secor Consulting and head up the company’s communications consulting practice.

According to Secor’s president, Marcel Cote, Bertrand will leave the crtc about six months before her five-year term expires. She was appointed to chair the commission Aug. 12, 1996. Cote says Bertrand had mentioned earlier in the fall that she might leave the crtc before the end of her term and wanted ‘to go out at a time of her choosing.’ Bertrand is to be a partner in Secor; Cote says the firm’s Canadian clients have included Astral, Telemedia and tva (before Quebecor bought parent Videotron). Cote says the commission chair will begin by focusing her attention on Paris-based clients and might, for example, develop a strategy to help a French broadcaster penetrate the North American market.

Cote says Secor concluded the deal with Bertrand in late November and expects her commitment to the company is ‘not just a one-year thing.’

The announcement came only days after the crtc decision on the new digital specialty services was leaked to a National Post reporter.

An acting chairperson will come from within crtc commissioner ranks; that is, either Andree Wylie (vp for tv) or telecommunications vp David Colville. Sources says Wylie doesn’t want it.

Before joining the crtc, Bertrand was a senior consultant with kpmg Management Consulting in Montreal. From 1988 to 1995, she was ceo of Radio-Quebec (now Tele-Quebec). *

-www.crtc.gc.ca/