Ah, the theatre of moral outrage! I refer to the surprise decision of the CRTC to disallow the application by Bell to own Astral Media. President George Cope went on BNN to say that his advice from a former chairman of the CRTC contradicted the position of the current Chairman: an admission indiscreet in so many ways that it suggests a belief that anger and arrogance trump any notion of politic behaviour.(see video accompanying text)
The most cogent review of that decision comes from David Ellis. The decision signals a change of policy at the CRTC, backed by the Canadian government, that consumers are to be put at the centre of communications policy. As long as we remember that consumers are also producers in the Internet world, then all will be well. Our rights to communicate freely with each other are more important, I believe, than even our rights to receive entertainment from others at a competitive price.