Former CRTC chair Charles Dalfen died May 26 at age 66. Dalfen, who handed the reins to current chair Konrad von Finckenstein, served from 2002 through 2006 and had returned to his law firm Torys LLP in an advisory capacity.

Never one to shy away from difficult policy decisions, Dalfen headed up the government oversight body in turbulent times, and pushed the importance of developing strong, homegrown content. Under Dalfen, the CRTC even offered a scheme whereby broadcasters would be allowed to run up to eight extra minutes of advertising for each hour of original Canuck drama they aired, with additional bonuses offered for increased audience share and spending.

In July 2005, Playback had a chance to sit down with the then-chair, and asked if he thought Canada would ever outgrow the need for a federal gatekeeper. ‘Maybe,’ he replied. ‘But because Canada has attempted to ensure that we maximize our resources, our broadcast services, we don’t allow as free a market as the spectrum-less world would suggest.

‘Therefore, someone has to allocate spectrum, or genres, or market. We’re still going to need, as a country, someone to do that. Regulation exists because the market isn’t perfect.’