Toronto telecommunications lawyer appointed new chairman of CRTC
Source : Canadian Press
Nov 28, 2001
TORONTO (CP) – Charles Dalfen, a telecommunications lawyer "well-versed" in broadcasting issues, is the new chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced the appointment Wednesday, to take effect Jan. 1. The position pays between $317,000 and $370,000 a year.
Dalfen, 58, replaces David Colville, who held the post on an interim basis after chairwoman Françoise Bertrand left the regulatory agency unexpectedly last December, a year before her five-year term expired.
Sources say Dalfen's acceptance of the post came after months of discussions with the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office, suggesting Dalfen demanded certain conditions, such as an arm's-length relationship with the government.
The Toronto lawyer has already received kudos from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, the lobby group that represents most of the private radio and TV operations in the country.
Association president Michael McCabe said the appointment is good news for the entire Canadian broadcasting system.
"As a former vice-chair of the CRTC and a highly-regarded lawyer whose clients have included some of Canada's key players in the broadcasting system, Charles Dalfen comes to his position well-versed in the industry issues, challenges and trends," McCabe said.
Dalfen's skills as a leader and consensus builder will be crucial as the commission takes on the challenges of ensuring competition and Canadian content in the global, digital environment, McCabe added.
The lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting also welcomed Dalfen's appointment.
"He has a sterling reputation," said spokesman Ian Morrison. "I don't know of any credible person in the broadcast or telecom fields who would really be able to say anything negative about him."
Morrison said the CRTC is badly in need of leadership and reform, having produced a number of minority reports in recent decisions.
"The commission needs a backbone, it needs a spine of steel and this guy certainly is well qualified to do that," he said.
Dalfen was called to the Quebec bar in 1970. He's also been a deputy minister of transport and communications in the British Columbia government, a law professor at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Law and legal adviser to the federal Department of Communications.
Dalfen isn't new to the CRTC, either, having served as a vice-chairman from 1976 to 1980.
He's a senior partner in the prestigious Torys law firm, where he advises clients on domestic and international telecommunications and broadcasting law. He has written numerous articles on communications policy and has served as a delegate to international forums, including the United Nations Committee on Direct Broadcast Satellites.
Dalfen has his work cut out for him, especially in this so-called age of convergence.
In May 1999, the commission announced it would take a hands-off approach to the Internet, but without explaining how that was going to happen with Net and broadcasting technologies becoming more intertwined.
It has led many to concur that the CRTC may be doomed within a few years, unable to regulate the flow of audio and video content that moves from the airwaves to an online path.
The plain-spoken Colville, meanwhile, has now been passed over twice for the chairmanship.
In 1995, he became commission vice-chairman for telecommunications and when the flamboyant Keith Spicer left the chair in 1996 to head a special forum on national unity, Colville filled in then, too.
Dalfen was not immediately available for comment.
