Foreword

• Author: Marshall Rothstein
• Pages: 21-23

xxi

FOR E WOR D

When I started practising transportation law in 1966, the bible was

H.E.B. Coyne’s 1948 edition of the Annotated Railway Act. Telegraph

and telephone services were heavily regulated in fewer than twenty sec-

tions of the Railway Act, which consisted of a total of 460 sections. The

focus was on regulating interference by telegraph and telephone lines

with railways and highways. Rates and tolls were regulated in much

the same way as railway freight rates. Radio and television was entirely

separate. Technological change was hardly on the radar screen. Today,

that environment seems like it belongs in the Stone Age. By comparison

to the context of today, it was the Stone Age.

We live in an entirely different telecommunications world today.

The historical distinctions between the traditional broadcast and non-

broadcast sectors of the telecommunications industry are blurring.

Deregulation and changing technologies have resulted in complex chal-

lenges for regulators, carriers, broadcasters, consumers, and content

creators. Telecommunications technologies are changing at an extra-

ordinarily rapid pace: the technologies used f‌ive years ago are often ob-

solete when compared to those used today. The impact of these changes

is further increased when one takes into account the controlled deregu-

lation of the telecommunications industry that has occurred over the

last few decades. All of this change has resulted in new issues to chal-

lenge the legal community.

Robert Howell’s Canadian Telecommunications Lawmakes an ex-

tremely valuable and, importantly, an up-to-date contribution to the