The File 1000-121 Affair

During the 2006 federal election in Canada, Australian lawyer Paul Armarego notified Stephen Harper (Conservative Party of Canada), Gilles Duceppe (Bloc Quebécois), Jack Layton (New Democratic Party of Canada) and Jim Harris (Green Party of Canada) about a case of long-term systemic corruption involving the unjust enrichment of media companies by public officials at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission of Canada (CRTC) — hereinafter referred to as the File 1000-121 Affair: (January 5, 2006); (Attachment A); (Attachment B); (Attachment C); and (Attachment D).

As documented in that submission, Mr. Armagero was acting on my behalf and he specifically identified the existence of CRTC File 1000-121 and an unpublished decision made by the CRTC on June 25, 1996, as central to the case of corruption.    

None of the Canadian political party leaders responded to my lawyer about the serious governance matter raised.

However, on March 27, 2006 — shortly after Stephen Harper became prime minister of Canada — CRTC File 1000-121 and all of the documents stored in the file were destroyed, as confirmed the following year by a lawyer at the Commission (CRTC, October 10, 2007).

When CRTC File 1000-121 and the documents were destroyed, Beverly Oda was the minister responsible for oversight of the CRTC: a quasi-judicial regulatory tribunal operating at arm’s length to Parliament by public officials appointed by the prime minister of the day.

Furthermore, Minister Oda had been a CRTC commissioner when the regulatory scheme at the heart of the case of corruption was originally hatched. Moreover, it is a matter of public record that she had knowledge of the unjust enrichment scheme: see the dissenting opinion by David Colville, Beverley Oda and Rob Gordon on the ‘Sunset Provision’ in Public Notice CRTC 1993-74 (June 3, 1993).   

CRTC officials have repeatedly refused my requests over the years to identify whose decision it was to have File 1000-121 and the documents destroyed, and why exactly that this action was taken on March 27, 2006.  

The last time that the CRTC permitted me to appear at one of its public hearings was on February 7, 2008, where I advocated for a judicial review into the File 1000-121 Affair (CRTC public hearing). Later that same day, I issued a press release, title: ‘Prime Minister Stephen Harper fails to take action on CRTC cable scandal — Canadian consumers may be owed more than 1.2 billion dollars’ (Canada NewsWire, February 7, 2008) .   

Less than 24 hours later, Member of Parliament Libby Davies stated in the House of Commons that Canadians were owed more than $1.2 billion (House of Commons). Member of Parliament Jim Abbott — Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage — provided false and misleading information to Parliament in response. 

It is a matter of public record that on February 7, 2008, CRTC commissioner Rita Cugini emphatically stated that there was no unpublished CRTC decision made on June 25, 1996, which is not true — the public official also falsely claimed and that nobody at the Commission had no knowledge about the matter (CRTC public hearing).

I have copies of the documents formerly stored in CRTC File 1000-121, which are identified and provided below. In fact, I have the original signed unpublished File 1000-121 decision that Ms. Cugini insisted does not exist (CRTC, June 25, 1996). How I ended up with these documents in my possession is addressed in ‘One Media Law: A case study of regulatory capture, systemic corruption at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’ (Mahar, August 17, 2015).

Furthermore, I provided the CRTC with a copy of the  unpublished CRTC decision  made on June 25, 1996 BEFORE I appeared at the public hearing on February, 7, 2008, along with detailed information and other documents related to the File 1000-121 Affair.  

Following are copies of documents formerly stored in CRTC File 1000-121 and destroyed by the quasi-judicial regulatory tribunal on March 27, 2007: