The ink is barely dry on the Canadian Federal Court of Appeal’s ruling that Globalive meets Canadian foreign ownership rules that Public Mobile, the rival that launched the court case, has confirmed it will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.
“There have been five different decision makers in this process with a flip-flopping of the decision each time,” said Public Mobile CEO Alek Krstajic. “Industry Canada, the CRTC, the Governor in Council (Federal Cabinet), the Federal Court and now the Federal Court of Appeal have reached conflicting verdicts. Today’s decision shows us just how clouded this issue has become and demonstrates more than ever the national importance for consistent rules that should be applied equally to all Canadian wireless carriers. If you’re going to change the rules, change them equally for everyone, not just for WIND.”
Last week, Industry Minister Christian Paradis confirmed that foreign ownership remains a priority for the government but gave no details as to how the government plans to proceed.