Vicky Eatrides, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
Check against delivery
Introduction
Good morning, and thank you, Ross, for the warm welcome.
Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge that we are gathered on the traditional territory of many nations, including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg (ah-nish-naw-bek), the Chippewa (chi-peh-wah), the Haudenosaunee (hoh-DEE-noh-SHoh-nee) and the Wendat (wen-daht) peoples. I would like to thank them and pay respect to their Elders.
Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today. I am thrilled to be back at Radiodays North America at Departure, and am happy to be joined by my fellow CRTC Commissioners, Nirmala Naidoo and Ellen Desmond, as well as the head of our Broadcasting team, Scott Shortliffe.
At the CRTC, we often hear that radio is more than a medium, and it really is. Radio launches artists. It gives a platform to local voices, and it connects communities across the country.
And at the heart of that connection are the broadcasters who work tirelessly to serve and reflect their local communities. We hear about this all the time from people who share their stories with us.
Let me share one of those stories with you.
I was visiting a radio station a few weeks ago and was speaking with some of their employees about how integrated they are with their local community. They told me a story about a flood in their area. One of their listeners had suddenly found themselves in the middle of the flood zone. The listener was worried and wanted sandbags to protect their home, but they didn't know where to find sandbags, and where to find them quickly. So what did they do? They called the radio station, where they knew that someone would pick up the phone. They asked if the station knew where they could get sandbags. They were hoping that someone could point them in the right direction.
What happened next is remarkable. The station didn't just take the call-they put the call out to the community, and in no time, listeners had rallied together and collected dozens of sandbags for their neighbour in need.
And this story is not unique. As we talk to people across the country, we hear about listeners learning critical information from their local stations in times of need, like when to evacuate during emergencies like flooding and wildfires.
Of course, we also hear a lot about the value of radio well beyond its importance during natural disasters. We hear about the impact that radio has in helping revitalize Indigenous languages, and giving Canadian artists their first big break.
What I am getting at - and I think this is something we can all agree on - is that the broadcasting industry is deeply important to Canadians - and something that we at the CRTC see every day.
So that is where I would like to start today -- with the progress we have made to modernize the broadcasting framework, and what is coming next.
I will then briefly touch on some of our other major work for Canadians, including implementing the Online News Act and promoting competition for Internet and cellphone services.
So let's dive in.
Modernizing Canada's broadcasting framework
When I spoke at this conference two years ago, I described our work modernizing the broadcasting regulatory framework as laying the foundation for a house that is built to last. To borrow from a familiar childhood story, if we want a house that will last, we cannot build it with straw or sticks. We must build it with bricks, and with purpose.
And that is exactly how we are approaching our work: getting it right from the start so that we build something that can stand strong against whatever challenges the future may bring.
Now, overhauling the decades-old regulatory framework has been no small task. We have said it before, but the changes that are required are substantial and complex. And, like anything that is built to last, we need the perspectives of many experts.
So how do we get those perspectives? We get them through public consultations, where we invite everyone to share their views and help inform the path forward.
We can think of these consultations as the starting point for building a house. Builders consult on a range of issues - from the number of bedrooms, to where to place the windows, to whether the floor should be carpeted or tiled. Architects and designers are invited to share their ideas during these consultations because each person brings different knowledge and different expertise.
Of course, at the CRTC, we are not building a house, but we are using a similar approach as we build the broadcasting framework. We seek out diverse perspectives, we listen closely to everyone, and we make our decisions based on what we have heard - as a quasi-judicial tribunal, we call that the "public record". And we have been moving quickly, because we know that the broadcasting sector needs certainty.
That is why we took action as soon as the Online Streaming Act came into force. We responded within days of the passage of the bill by launching a regulatory plan to facilitate participation and increase predictability.
We focussed our efforts on bringing online streaming services into the regulatory fold. Last time I was here, we had just issued a decision on what we refer to as "base contributions". This decision required online streaming services to direct funding to areas of immediate need, such as local news on radio and television, French-language content, and Indigenous content. Base contributions represent an estimated $200 million flowing annually into the Canadian broadcasting system.
This decision was a key step in laying the foundation of our modernized broadcasting framework.
Since then, we have continued to build our regulatory frame by launching an ambitious series of public consultations in the audio and audio-visual sectors.
Let me start with what is probably of most interest to people in this room -- the progress we are making on audio.
As you may know, in the base contributions decision, we said that a new fund for local news on radio should be created. The goal of that decision was to direct funding to strengthen local news production by commercial radio stations in smaller communities. Because we know that radio is sometimes the only source of local news.
A few months later, we launched a consultation on a new radio fund, and then the Commercial Radio News Fund was established.
At the same time, we launched a consultation to make the rules for radio stations more flexible. We knew this was an important issue to address because we have heard about the need to reduce administrative burden.
During that consultation, broadcasters shared a wide range of views on issues like the length of licence terms and how we can streamline our processes.
So, we took action, and last fall we announced the transition to radio licences that would no longer expire. We also made it easier for new stations to launch and for existing ones to operate more effectively. And yes, in the spirit of this conference, these changes are meant to be a Departure, a starting point, for doing things differently from how they have always been done.
The goal of these changes is simple -- to free up stations' time and resources so that they can focus on what matters most: serving their communities. This could mean producing more news, supporting local talent, and upgrading equipment to keep pace with technological change.
Building on these efforts to modernize our framework, we launched a major consultation specifically on audio policy -- looking at radio and audio streaming together, and at how we can continue to support the creation, presentation, and discovery of Canadian and Indigenous music and audio content.
We explored important questions like: How do we define Canadian content for music and how can we best support it? How can we modify our rules so that broadcasters can adapt more quickly in the system?
Many interveners, including traditional and online broadcasters, artists, creative associations and record labels shared their views with us, including during a public hearing last Fall.
One thing that we heard loud and clear is how vital it is for people to easily discover Canadian artists and how radio airplay continues to play an important role in sharing their music with audiences.
It reminds me of what Tegan Quin, one half of the internationally renowned Canadian duo Tegan and Sara, said during that public hearing. She spoke about how radio is important at every stage of an artist's career. And that for emerging artists, in particular, securing radio airplay is not just exposure, it is validation and a stamp of approval. In fact, Tegan jokingly said at the hearing that she would, and I quote, "literally donate Sara" in exchange for radio airplay.
All kidding aside, intervenors at that hearing told us that the system needs better tools and greater flexibility so that it can adapt more easily to changes in the industry. For example, there was discussion around the idea of a centralized database that makes it easier to identify and track what qualifies as Canadian content in the audio sector.
And I am happy to share that we will be launching that database in the coming months.
We are continuing to move toward a final decision on audio policy, which will address important issues like updating how we define Canadian content, how we support it, and how Canadians will be able to easily find it, no matter the platform.
That decision will mark an important step toward a stronger, more adaptable broadcasting system.
Once that audio policy decision is published, we will move to tailored conditions of service for audio broadcasters. This is where our decisions will be turned into clear requirements that ensure that all broadcasters are contributing equitably to the system. It will be the finishing of our house - getting the flooring put in, the doors and cabinets installed and paint on the walls. On the surface, it may sound simple, but it is these last details that can have the biggest impact.
So those are the next steps specifically for the audio sector, but we will be also issuing, in the coming weeks, major decisions to further support the creation and discoverability of audiovisual Canadian content.
And building on our work to help support news production, we are planning to launch a public consultation on news this year. More details will come, but I can say that we will be looking at how we can help ensure that Canadians continue to have access to timely local and national news on radio and television.
Funding flowing to Canadian news businesses
Let me just briefly touch on two other key areas of the CRTC's work before wrapping up.
First, the implementation of the Online News Act. As many of you know, the Online News Act is intended to help Canadian news organizations reach fair commercial agreements with the largest online platforms.
The government made it possible for an online platform to ask for an exemption from the Act if they deal with a news collective. That is exactly what happened with Google, after they agreed to contribute $100 million per year through the Canadian Journalism Collective.
Within weeks of the exemption request, we held a public consultation on Google's application and just two months after the end of that consultation, we published our decision to approve it. We moved quickly so that funding could start flowing as soon as possible, because we know that local newsrooms are facing immense pressure across the country and that news is essential to Canadians.
That funding is already making a difference. We have heard from news organizations that it has helped keep journalists on the job, maintain local coverage, and support the communities they serve.
So that is the Online News Act.
More choice and affordability in telecommunications services
Now let me quickly mention what we are doing in telecommunications.
We have recently overhauled our regulatory frameworks for both Internet and cellphone services. Our goal is clear: to promote competition, while maintaining incentives for telecommunications providers to invest in high-quality networks.
Now, promoting competition sounds like a laudable economic goal. But this is not a theoretical concept. We promote competition because it leads to tangible impacts for Canadians. It is a means to an end -- when companies compete more vigorously, that leads to more choice, lower prices, and innovation.
And we are seeing results. While prices for most goods and services have been increasing, Statistics Canada data shows that prices for cellphone services decreased by over 37% between 2021 and 2025. And our public opinion research shows that Canadians feel they have more choice for Internet and cellphone services. Let me give you an example -- back in 2023, only about a third of people felt they had more choice than before when it came to cellphone services. But by 2025, that number had gone up to almost half.
But having choice is just one part of the equation. The other part is making sure that consumers can take advantage of that choice.
That is why we have been taking action to support consumers. Over the last few weeks, we completed our work to address the recent changes to the Telecommunications Act that came into force last October.
We issued three major decisions aimed at removing extra fees to change or cancel plans, improving how customers are notified when their contracts or discounts are ending, and making it easier for Canadians to make changes to their plans -- whether through an app, online, or by email.
And we will continue to take action to support consumers in the coming months, so stay tuned.
Conclusion
I have covered a lot of ground this morning. So let me conclude by taking us back to where we started -- on the broadcasting framework.
Two years ago, we were laying the foundation for a house that is built to last.
Today, that foundation is laid, and our frame is built. And in the coming months, we will be doing finishing touches.
Like any house that is built to last, this is not the work of one builder. It takes many hands, many perspectives, and a lot of collaboration.
So, together, let's keep building a broadcasting framework that helps support Canadian voices. A framework that reflects our diversity. A framework that connects communities across our country.
In other words, let's finish the job we started.
Thank you.
