Senior civil servant Judith LaRocque has been named the interim chair of Canada’s telecom regulator, according to Cartt. If true she will follow Jean-Pierre Blais, who stepped down from the post last week following a prolific five year term.
Prior to this reported promotion, LaRocque served a six-month temporary broadcast vice-chair position with the CRTC that began in November 2016. Previously, LaRocque was Canada’s ambassador and permanent representative at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris and, before that, associate deputy minister at the department of Canadian Heritage.
We confirmed this with Heritage Ministry. https://t.co/KzMbEqNm9z
— Cartt.ca (@CarttCa) June 19, 2017
Cartt notes it confirmed the appointment with the Heritage Ministry.
The appointment doesn’t come as much of a surprise, considering her short term as temporary vice chair coincided closely with Blais’ retirement — however, in a prior response to a comment about chairing the CRTC being a difficult job LaRocque said with a laugh: “I wouldn’t want it.”
The comment appeared in a previous Globe and Mail profile on Jean-Pierre Blais.
The CRTC’s broadcast vice-chair position is now vacant, while Peter Menzies serves as telecommunications vice-chair. Also vacant are the positions for Ontario commissioner and Saskatchewan and Manitoba commissioner.
Update 06/20/17 8:30pm: This news is now confirmed by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, noting, “In our changing world, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission works to ensure that all Canadians have access to a world-class communication system. It’s a challenging task, and I would like to thank Ms. Larocque for agreeing to stay on the CRTC team as acting chair.”
Source: Cartt
Image credit: OECD via Flickr
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