I'm not sure what they're smoking in Ottawa, but I'd like some of it. It comes after the federal Ethics Commissioner ruled that soon-to-be-ex-CRTC chief Ian Scott, a former paid lobbyist for the phone companies, did not violate any rules when he sat down for drinks at a public pub with Mirko Bibic, the CEO of Bell. 

This despite the fact he was scheduled to rule on a number of issues directly related to the phone industry around the same time - and did, in fact, proclaim that independent ISPs were not entitled to a break on rates as the CRTC itself had ruled sometime before. 

It was decided that, despite knowing each other well, it somehow did not meet "the definition of friendship" which would have made it wrong under the Act. I'd love to know how they came to that conclusion, when both men have admitted to a kind of friendship. 

It's not clear how Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion came to this decision - despite acknowledging there are accusations it may have raised a "reasonable apprehension of bias" (a case which is before the courts), but I can only guess he was looking for a way out of the clearly odd ties between the two men or just didn't want to deal with it. 

And the beat goes on, as Bell, Rogers & Telus once again appear to be getting special treatment from the very government agencies that are supposed to regulate them - not to mention protecting consumers. But really, who cares about them?

Shame on them all.

Here's an admittedly much more unbiased version of the story from The Canadian Press. 

Head of federal telecom regulator did not breach Conflict of Interest Act: watchdog