This is extremely disturbing: After a contentious and critical 4-yr proceeding, Bell appealed back to the CRTC on Dec 13. Less than a week later, Dec 19, the same Bell exec who oversaw wholesale for a decade, Mirko Bibic, met for beers alone with the Chair of the CRTC, Ian Scott. twitter.com/StarBusiness/status/1403678486686932992
I've met with CRTC staff and Commissioners. Let me tell you how that generally goes: They start every meeting by saying they will not discuss any file that is open before the Commission. We point out that EVERYTHING is in an open file before the Commission. They ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
These meetings with CRTC staff or Commissioners are never one on one. They always have staff in the room. In my most cynical moments, I didn't imagine a top Bell exec was having private one-on-one meetings with the CRTC chair. That is shocking, and should not happen.
Maybe Mirko and Ian are old buds and they're just catching up? No. I used to be friends with someone who became a CRTC Vice Chair. The first time I saw them in that capacity they would not even say hello to me, they were that concerned about propriety. We haven't talked since.
The CRTC's role is to be an independent arbiter. One side says rates are too high, the other says too low. How do we decide? The CRTC has the independence and expertise to decide. Except they have neither now: They're having beers with Bell and making up numbers. It's a outrage.