The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommission Commission (CRTC) is the body which regulates communications activity in Canada. It has become almost a cliche to say that in addition to simply formulating regulations, the Commission has also been the dominant policy-maker in the communications field. The allegation has been made that the CRTC is "out of control", usurping a policy-making role more properly exercised by elected government officials, while also defying their attempts to constrain its behaviour. It has further been argued that this Commission usurpation and defiance has meant that both the minister and Parliament have little or no influence to direct the agency. / The study demonstrates that the Commission has often acted as a policy-maker but that this role has been in response to the existence of a policy vacuum and lack of leadership from elected government. Furthermore, the agency has assumed a policy-making role not through an act of usurpation but with the tacit consent of elected officials. For these officials, the CRTC performs a useful function "insulating" them from the need to make a decision (and accept responsibility) on policy issues which often involve difficult political choices. The study also shows that the agency's "political masters", Cabinet and Parliament, possess a variety of both formal and informal control mechanisms which effectively prevent the CRTC from maintaining a policy position independent from government.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.74264 |
| Date | January 1990 |
| Creators | Hall, Richard, 1957- |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Graduate Communications Program.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001072153, proquestno: AAINN63424, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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