Continentalizing Canadian Telecommunications: The Politics of Regulatory Reform

Extract

Continentalizing Canadian Telecommunications: The Politics of Regulatory Reform, Vanda Rideout, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003, pp. xiii, 256

A recent headline in The Globe and Mail, “Labour unrest dogs the telecomm industry,” could have been written at almost any time over the past decade or more. The industry is facing fundamental structural change, driven by new technologies, regulatory reform, and market shifts and management has, predictably, focused on reducing labour costs. For anyone seeking to understand the political economy of restructuring in the telecommunications sector, this slim volume is a valuable addition to the literature. The author traces the story of telecommunications regulation from its origins in the First National Policy to neo-liberal restructuring (up to 2002), with special attention to the impact of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). As a work of history, the book provides a helpful map of major regulatory and policy shifts in the telecommunications sector. In tracing these shifts, the author discusses broader issues, such as the key role of telecommunications in “advanced electronic capitalism” (3) and the conflicts that accompanied the change from “a Fordist telecommunications regime” to a “continental” one (5).