The Case for Provincial Regulation of Community Antenna Television Systems in the Wake of Capital Cities and Dionne

While observers of the Canadian Constitution may believe that jurisdiction over cable television in this country was finally and clearly given to the federal government and its Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, by the Capital Cities and Dionne cases, there is still much to be decided. If there are any doubts, then consider news reports of November 1978, and January and February 1979 which highlighted the prominence of cable television as a negotiable federal/provincial subject at several conferences. Vibrations from several provincial governments 4 indicate that cable television and data communications are two areas of communications that provinces would dearly like to have under their jurisdiction. Yet even if the current negotiations are not successful, the provinces have a solid, although restrictive, constitutional ground