Wednesday was officially CRTC Chair Ian Scott's last day on the job, to be replaced Thursday by newcomer Vicky Eatrides. Her term in office will be welcome, compared to the woeful record of her predecessor in protecting consumers from the greedy Big Telcos - one of whom he used to lobby for. 

I don't subscribe to Cartt.ca, a very worthwhile industry subscription-based publication, but one of its headlines caught my eye. They had a sort of an exit interview with Scott, which begins with this sentence:

"In a wide-ranging interview with Cartt, outgoing CRTC chairman Ian Scott hinted at work at the commission arriving "in the coming months" to drive down broadband prices."

Nice of him to bother, after he did everything during his tenure to assure the exact opposite would happen, including cancelling a decision that allowed independent ISPs to access the networks of the big guys at a discounted rate, allowing for lower prices for their customers. As we know, he reversed that ruling shortly thereafter and was later seen having a friendly beer in public with Bell CEO Mirko Bibic. 

A review would later find that he'd done nothing wrong, but it was hard not to be suspicious, given his background and that the reversal of policy led to instantly higher prices. So much for protecting consumers. 

So good luck Ms. Eatrides. Let's hope you learn from the mistakes of the guy who went before you. It's damning with faint praise, but I'm not sure she could be much worse.  And I've said it before, but it's worth repeating: Ian - don't let the door hit you on the way out! Perhaps you could get Mr. Bibic to hold it open for you.