TeleGeography GlobalComms Database Canada Summary Data Total wireless subscribers (Mar 2015): 28,724,509 Population penetration: 80.7% Average penetration in region: 99.1% Average penetration in GDP per cap decile: 107.2% Total broadband subscribers (Mar 2015): 12,400,000 Household penetration: 89.4% Average penetration in region: 90.9% Average penetration in GDP per cap decile: 88.4% Total PSTN lines (2014): 12,298,000 Household penetration: 88.9% Average penetration in region: 65.5% Average penetration in GDP per cap decile: 63.0% 1 Country Overview Key Data Area (sq km): 9,984,670 Population 2014 (million): 35.5 Households 2014 (million): 13.8 Capital: Ottawa Language: English, French Exchange rate annual average (2014): USD 1 = CAD 1.10 GDP 2014 (USD billion): 1,788.7 GDP per capita 2014 (USD thousand): 50.4 Sources: BBC, CIA World Factbook, EIA, IMF, UN, World Bank Map Political Profile Canada, the second largest country in the world in terms of land area after Russia, is a federation of ten provinces and three territories. Its only land border is with the United States, stretching for 9,000km between the Atlantic and Pacific; some 90% of Canadians live within 200km of the border. The majority of the population is concentrated in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, particularly those areas bordering the Great Lakes. These two provinces account for roughly 62% of both population and GDP. The Prairie provinces — Manitoba, 2 Saskatchewan and Alberta — together with British Columbia in the far west, account for the bulk of the rest of the population. The Atlantic provinces (Newfoundland & Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island) are historically the poor relations; GDP per capita there averages just 75% of the national mean. The northern part of Canada is divided between Yukon, the North West Territories and Nunavut, an area governed by indigenous peoples which was officially established in 1999. Officially Canada is a constitutional monarchy, with the British monarch as head of state, represented by a Governor General, currently David Johnston, who was appointed by the Ottawan government in October 2010. In practice, the bicameral Canadian Parliament holds sovereign authority, consisting of the directly-elected House of Commons (currently numbering 308 seats, but scheduled to increase to 338 for the upcoming October 2015 elections) and the 105-seat Senate appointed on the advice of the Canadian Prime Minister. Twelve years of Liberal government ended when Stephen Harper’s Conservatives defeated incumbent premier Paul Martin in the House of Commons election of January 2006. The Liberal administration had come under intense pressure over a scandal surrounding the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars of public money. Though he was personally exonerated by an inquiry, Mr Martin’s government received a vote of no-confidence in November 2005. The Conservatives – steered towards the political centre by Harper – came to power on promises to cut taxes, fight crime, boost military spending and repair relations with the US. The lack of an overall majority drove the administration to call an early election in October 2008, in which the Conservatives improved their position, winning 16 more seats than in the 2006 vote, but remained a minority government. Prime Minster Harper came under strong political attack for his handling of the financial crisis in late 2008, but the following year critics were appeased to some extent by a major economic stimulus package. In the latest federal elections of May 2011 the Conservatives finally secured an overall majority, raising their number of parliamentary seats by 23 to 166 while the Liberals lost 43 seats to take the lowest seat total in their history, 34, and The New Democratic Party gained 67 seats to give it a total of 103, forming the official opposition for the first time ever. As some MPs subsequently assumed ‘independent’ status while certain seats became vacant, by June 2015 the main parties’ seat tallies had altered to: 159 (Conservative); 95 (New Democratic); 36 (Liberal). The next elections are scheduled for October 2015. One of the perennial issues in domestic politics is the question of independence for predominantly French-speaking Quebec. The latest referendum on the issue in 1995 resulted in a slim majority for the ‘no’ camp, despite the efforts of the independence movement led by Parti Quebecois (PQ). In a symbolic vote in 2006, the federal parliament agreed that the Quebecois should be considered a ‘nation’ within Canada. In Quebec’s provincial election of September 2012 PQ increased its number of seats in the National Assembly of Quebec by three to 54, to oust the incumbent Quebec Liberal Party (50 seats, down by 16), but in the following election of April 2014 the separatist party could only muster 30 seats, behind the Quebec Liberals’ 70. The loss of support was partly blamed on prominent PQ politician Pierre Karl Peladeau, the former head of telecoms/broadcast/media group Quebecor who has since become party leader, as his campaigning appeared to alienate many voters who did not want a new referendum on sovereignty. At federal level, May 2011’s general election was disastrous for the Quebec Bloc (Bloc Quebecois, informally tied to PQ); having won 49 parliamentary seats in the 2008 poll, it lost official party status in the latest legislative vote when its number of seats plummeted to just four, while by June 2015 it retained just two seats in the Commons. Economic Development Canada is a high-tech industrial nation with abundant natural resources and a highly skilled labour force. Its economy is the eleventh largest in the world (as ranked by 2014 GDP in US dollars), close behind Russia. Economic development is heavily influenced by the 3 neighbouring US, which accounts for over three-quarters of exports and around 65% of imports. Canada is also the US’s largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium and electric power, while the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the US and Mexico boosted trade by around 40% since its signing in 1994. Canada is the world’s fifth largest oil producer and it aims to continue diversifying its energy sector, including exploitation of oil sand reserves (bitumen deposits) second only in size to Saudi Arabia. Canada’s banks, meanwhile, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008/09 among the strongest in the world, due to early intervention by the Bank of Canada alongside conservative lending practices and strong capitalisation. GDP performance recovered quickly from recession in 2009 – when the economy contracted by 2.6% on the back of the global financial meltdown – as a wide-ranging government-led economic stimulus programme helped the country achieve 3.2% economic growth in 2010. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported further steady GDP expansion, averaging 2.3% annually in 2011-2013, and 2014 saw growth accelerate to 2.5% despite falling oil prices, with a preliminary forecast of 2.2% for full-year 2015. Unemployment reached its lowest rate in more than 30 years at 6% in 2007, but climbed again to 8.3% by end-2009, before improving slightly to just below 8.0% at the end of 2010. The IMF says joblessness has continued to fall steadily, to 7.5% in 2011, 7.3% in 2012, 7.1% in 2013 and 6.9% in 2014 (the 2013-2014 numbers being slightly better than previously forecast), although the level of unemployment is projected to flatten out in 2015-2016 at 6.9%-7.0%. Inflation – having dived from 2.4% to 0.3% in the recession year of 2009 – averaged around 2.1% annually in the period 2010-2012, before fluctuating between 0.95% in 2013 and 1.9% in 2014, with the IMF projecting inflation of around 0.9% for full-year 2015. 4 Regulations Regulatory Overview Industry Canada is the federal government ministry responsible for telecoms policy, spectrum management and licensing. Gaining its mandate from the Department of Industry Act 1995, the ministry defines its role as the government’s ‘centre of microeconomic policy expertise’ for a wide range of sectors. In respect of telecoms, Industry Canada is responsible for the Telecommunications Act 1993 and the Radiocommunication Act 1985 (both most recently amended in December 2014), plus various regulations subordinate to each of these two main acts, e.g. Telecommunications Fees Regulations, Canadian Telecommunications Common Carrier Ownership and Control Regulations, International Submarine Cable Licences Regulations and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission Rules of Practice and Procedure. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) is an independent public authority and administrative tribunal that regulates and supervises telecommunications and broadcasting in the public interest. The CRTC reports to parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage, and derives its authority from the Telecommunications Act and the Broadcasting Act 1991 (and amendments). The CRTC’s jurisdictions include: - approving tariffs and certain agreements for the telecoms sector; - promoting compliance with telecoms regulations; - encouraging competition in telecoms markets; - issuing broadcasting licences and international telecoms licences; and - making decisions on mergers, acquisitions and ownership changes in the broadcasting sector. Canada’s Competition Bureau and the CRTC signed an agreement for closer cooperation in September 2013, as the two agencies exercise complementary roles in reviewing merger transactions in the communication sector (the CRTC under the Telecommunications Act and Broadcasting Act, the Competition Bureau in its role of administering and enforcing the Competition Act). Infrastructure-based telecoms service providers (fixed or mobile) with more than a 10% share of total Canadian telecoms revenues must adhere to foreign ownership rules requiring them to be ‘Canadian-owned and controlled’. This applies to the three largest telecom groups – Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), Rogers Communications and Telus Corporation (Telus Communications).