A  dozen organizations are asking the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to extend the deadline in the implementation proceedings surrounding the modernization of Canada’s broadcasting system.

Groups including the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting (FRIENDS)/Les Amis, the Quebec English-language Production Council, and Unifor have filed a procedural request to CRTC secretary general Claude Doucet over the deadlines announced by the Commission on May 12, saying more time is needed to consult, develop positions and undertake research.

The CRTC plans to launch three phases of public consultations about next steps following last month’s adoption of the Online Streaming Act (a.k.a. Bill C-11) — one this spring to lay the groundwork, another in the fall to build the regulatory framework and a third in late 2024 to implement that framework, according to a regulatory plan published May 8.

In its joint letter to Doucet filed May 19, the groups are asking for an extension of deadline for the interventions, replies and final replies in the proceedings.

Currently, the deadlines for interventions on registration regulations and exemption orders are due on June 12, while replies are due on June 27, followed by final replies on July 12. Interventions on the modernized framework are due June 27, with replies due July 12. A public hearing for the consultation is scheduled to begin Nov. 20.

In their procedural request, the groups say those dates “provide inadequate time for parties to consult and to undertake necessary research, thereby weakening the record of these proceedings.” They also say with the current absence of the policy direction from Cabinet to the CRTC about the new broadcasting legislation “creates uncertainty as to the recommendations that parties may reasonably make.”

The groups are instead proposing 2023 deadlines of July 28 for interventions, Sept. 1 for replies and Sept. 15 for final replies so they can “develop a coherent framework for all three proceedings.” Adjusting the deadlines will also “provide greater equity to all participants without disadvantaging any of them,” says the letter.

The extension request from the groups “still provides time for the CRTC to add materials to the public record in these proceedings,” it says. “It does not ask for changes to the date of the 20 November 2023 public hearing, and provides time for the CRTC to issue determinations on two of the three notices should it wish to do so.”

Responding to a request for comment on the group’s letter, a Commission spokesperson tells Playback Daily that “since the CRTC is an administrative tribunal with quasi-judicial functions, it does not provide comments on open files.”

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