Ottawa – Cathy McLeod, Member of Parliament for Kamloops – Thompson – Cariboo was pleased that the Prime Minister and Industry Minister opposed the ruling of the CRTC regarding any attempt to bring in user-based billing for wholesale internet services.

“I am so pleased that the CRTC has followed our government’s lead and initiated a review of its decision,” said McLeod, “The policy of this government has been, and always will be, to encourage competition, increase consumer choice, minimize regulation and allow market forces to prevail. These are our policies and this is our focus.”

“It should be noted that regardless of the outcome of the CRTC’s review, under this government this ruling will not be implemented,” stated McLeod.

The CRTC ruled last week that major internet service providers could charge wholesalers that lease bandwidth a rate comparable to what it charges its own customers, minus a 15 percent discount. This meant smaller internet service providers, which use this leased bandwidth and had offered customers a package with unlimited downloads, will force them to impose preset limits on the amount of data their customers can consume each month before extra fees would be applied.

“As our government develops Canada’s first comprehensive Digital Economy Strategy, we need to look carefully at how decisions like these affect the bigger picture,” said McLeod. “We need to make sure that government policies provide the right framework for entrepreneurs to flourish, for innovative new ideas to take root, and for real opportunity and job creation.”

“Since this decision was made last week, I certainly heard loud and clear from constituents throughout the entire riding that they wanted choice. If an internet service provider wanted to offer unlimited access for a flat fee, constituents wanted to be able to make that choice in our marketplace,” concluded McLeod.