Technology companies increasingly lobby the Canadian federal government. The Tech Lobby Project regularly submits Access to Information (ATI) requests for records relating to lobbying communications between Canadian federal government departments and companies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Sidewalk Labs and Uber. Read more about our ATI requests here. Below you can find a list of the documents we’ve received recently in response to our ATI requests.
You can subscribe to receive a list of descriptions of recent ATI responses we have received by monthly email by signing up to our monthly email listserv here. For more information, or to access the documents themselves, please email Sara Bannerman at banners@mcmaster.ca
Tech Lobby News
[Online News Act] Please stop helping us: the newspaper bailout is a comprehensive policy failure (The Globe and Mail)
Received in April 2024
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission ATI Re-Requests
| Document Link | Reference |
| The document includes an email exchange about digital wireless coverage in Canada and a report by the Boston Consulting Group. The BCG report covers International Comparisons of Broadband Competition, Pricing, Performance and Regulatory Models is also attached. | Government of Canada, Access to Information Request A-2019-00033 Copy of A-2019-00033: All Records Pertaining to the December 2019 Report Regarding How a Decrease in Wireless Revenues Would Hurt the Deployment of 5G in Canada Re-Requested under Access to Information Request (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 2019), http://open.canada.ca/en/access-to-information. |
| The document includes several emails between Public Service and CRTC regarding the 9-1-1 Manager for Emergency Service Working Group. The CRTC held a meeting with Apple and deduced that a mobile provider is not needed but mobile signal is required to dial 9-1-1. Apple Canada Inc. Senior representative has also emailed Étienne Robelin (CRTC) to request a meeting and in the subject, they’ve outlined their offerings: hybridized emergency location estimation technology, and the location transport technologies to transmit information to Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) in Canada through a Text-to-9-1-1 and Wireless Alerting. | Government of Canada, Access to Information Request A-2019-00036 Copy of A-2019-00036: Any and All Communications, Including Emails, Letters, Briefing Notes, Meeting Minutes, Regarding and Including a Meeting(s) with Apple Inc. and the CRTC in September 2019. Re-Requested under Access to Information Request (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 2019), http://open.canada.ca/en/access-to-information. |
| The document includes an attachment from Rogers detailing how to keep Canadians connected during the pandemic. | Government of Canada, Access to Information Request A-2019-00051 Copy of A-2019-00051: All Records between CRTC and Bell Canada, Rogers Communications, Telus, Shaw Communications, and TekSavvyand Related to COVID-19 Virus from March 1, 2020 to Present. Re-Requested under Access to Information Request, 2019, http://open.canada.ca/en/access-to-information. |
| The document internal communications and analyses related to the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review (BTLR) report within the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) following the release of the BTLR final report, from January 29, 2020, to February 12, 2020. These documents include email exchanges between key staff and messages from CRTC Commissioner Ian Scott. The internal discussions and email exchanges indicate that CRTC staff, including analysts and senior officials, are evaluating the BTLR’s recommendations to understand their implications for the CRTC’s operations and regulatory framework. The CRTC is analyzing these recommendations to determine how they align with current laws and regulations, and to prepare the organization for potential legislative changes. Topics range from telecommunications to broadcasting, broadband, BTLR recommendations relating to Indigenous peoples, monitoring investor calls, and surveying of public engagement on social media. | Government of Canada, Access to Information Request A-2019-00048 Copy of A-2019-00048: Documents Regarding the Final Report by the Broadcasting and Telecommunications Legislative Review Panel Released on January 29, 2020. Re-Requested under Access to Information Request, 2019, http://open.canada.ca/en/access-to-information. |