Industry Minister Tony Clement did not appear before the parliamentary committee hearings on foreign ownership as scheduled Thursday, casting some doubt on when or how the proceedings will continue.

Clement was expected to defend his overturn of a CRTC decision that had barred Globalive from entering Canada. Letting the Egyptian-backed mobile company in ignited a firestorm of criticism and indirectly jump-started the industry committee’s recent hearings on foreign ownership in the telecommunications sector.

There was no immediate word if Clement will ever appear before the committee.

Since the hearings began in March, many MPs on the multi-party committee and some teleco execs have disagreed on issues including whether Canadian content, and hence the Broadcasting Act, should also be addressed during the proceedings, given the nature of convergence today.

Shaw regulatory SVP Ken Stein urged the committee to examine both the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act, and make sure that rules apply fairly to all players.

‘It this converged environment, it is unacceptable to lift ownership restrictions in only one sector or for the benefit of only one group of competitors,’ he said during his recent appearance.

Rogers SVP Kenneth Englehart further suggested that the Broadcasting Act could be amended so that ‘BDU licences can be foreign-owned and programming licences cannot.’ He told the committee that foreign-owned telecos should have to play by the same rules as Canadian-owned players.

‘It makes no sense to allow large global players to enter the Canadian market and to buy and sell their assets to anyone on the planet without allowing Canadian companies to do the same thing,’ Englehart said.

‘Convergence has finally become a reality,’ added Englehart, now that telecos and cable companies offer the same services. ‘It makes no sense to allow foreign ownership for telecommunications and not allow it for cable.’

In an unusual move, the committee appeared to restate that any ‘legislation deemed appropriate’ is up for review when it recently reissued the March 9 press release that announced the hearings, underlining that the committee may examine ‘foreign ownership rules and regulations under the Telecommunications Act, the Radiocommunications Act, the Broadcasting Act and any other legislation deemed appropriate.’

At press time, the only remaining session on the industry committee’s calendar is a closed-door session to review the Canadian Business Corporations Act.