Telus asks CRTC to override provincial consumer protection laws for phone, internet and TV
Key points
- Telus has asked the CRTC, Canada's telecom regulator, to declare that provincial consumer protection laws do not apply to phone, internet and TV services.
- Telus wants the CRTC's planned national consumer code to be the only consumer protection standard for these services, even where a provincial rule does not directly conflict with the CRTC's.
- Today the CRTC says its codes take precedence only when there is a "direct conflict" with provincial law. Telus calls that approach "wrong as a matter of law."
- Telus filed the request in August, as part of the CRTC's review to merge the Wireless Code, Internet Code and TV code into one code.
- The CRTC has not decided anything. Its public hearing on the new code starts November 30 in Gatineau.
The request sits inside a broader Telus filing on the CRTC’s code review. In the same filing, Telus is also pushing for longer phone financing and an end to the $100 roaming cap. It cites British Columbia’s 2019 review of cellphone billing and contract terms, and Ontario’s Wireless Services Agreements Act, 2013, as examples of provinces overreaching. Ontario repealed that law in 2019, but a court still certified a class action against Telus under it.
Telus has argued this before. After Quebec prosecutors charged it under the province’s Consumer Protection Act over 2012 and 2013 contract practices, it said those rules could not apply to a federally regulated carrier. Quebec’s Court of Appeal disagreed in March 2022, and the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear Telus’ appeal that November. The new filing does not mention that case.
Telus also points to Quebec’s new three-year legal warranty on phones and other devices, in force since October 5, to argue that people expect devices to last longer than 24 months. It says it is not commenting on whether the warranty is constitutionally permissible, and it does not ask for the warranty to be removed. That warranty covers devices sold by retailers, not wireless service.
If the CRTC sides with Telus after the November hearing, phone bill protections would be set federally, whatever province a customer lives in.
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