Spectrum Policy Framework for Canada Act

This bill deals with how Canada manages wireless spectrum and mobile network coverage, particularly in rural, remote, and Indigenous areas where cellphone service is often poor. It does not change spectrum rules directly, but instead creates new obligations for government bodies to check and improve the system over time.

First, it requires the CRTC (the federal telecom regulator) to create, within six months of the law taking effect, a process to verify that the coverage data cell phone carriers report is actually accurate. This matters because government and companies rely on this coverage data to decide where service gaps exist, and inaccurate data can hide real problems in underserved areas.

Second, it requires the Minister of Industry to conduct a full review of the Spectrum Policy Framework for Canada, the federal policy that guides how wireless spectrum is allocated and managed, within 18 months. This framework hasn't been updated since 2007. The review must include consultations with telecom companies, spectrum licence holders, municipalities in rural areas, Indigenous communities, public safety and emergency responders, academic experts, and the CRTC. The resulting report must assess rural and remote connectivity (including along numbered highways), consider competition issues like deployment requirements and unused spectrum, and recommend any needed changes to the framework, with priority given to improving connectivity. The report must be tabled in Parliament and published online.

Finally, the bill requires ongoing accountability: every five years after that initial review, the Minister must produce a follow-up report on how well the framework is working, also tabled in Parliament and published publicly. In short, the bill doesn't rewrite spectrum policy itself, but locks in a legal requirement to keep it updated, reviewed, and based on verified data going forward.

This bill requires the CRTC to create a process for verifying carrier coverage data, and requires the Minister of Industry to review, update, and report on the Spectrum Policy Framework for Canada on a recurring schedule.

• New duty on the CRTC — within six months of the Act coming into force, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission must establish a process to verify the accuracy of mobile network coverage data submitted by Canadian carriers, including data on areas served and deployment requirements; the Act does not specify what this process must look like.
• New duty on the Minister of Industry — within 18 months, the Minister must conduct a review of the Framework, consult a list of named groups (carriers, spectrum licence holders, municipal and Indigenous representatives, public safety agencies, academics, the CRTC, and "any other stakeholder the Minister considers appropriate"), and table a report in Parliament within the first 15 sitting days after completion.
• Discretion retained by the Minister — the Minister decides what changes to the Framework are "necessary," and while the Act directs the Minister to "give priority to connectivity," the specific policy content of any changes is left entirely to ministerial judgment rather than defined in the bill.
• Recurring reporting — after the initial review, the Minister must produce a further implementation-and-effectiveness report every five years, tabled in Parliament and published on the Department of Industry website within 30 days of tabling; there is no sunset clause ending this obligation.
• Oversight mechanism — the primary check is public tabling and publication of reports rather than any approval, veto, or penalty process; the bill creates no enforcement powers, no penalties for carriers, and no new adjudicative body.
• Clarification of scope — the Act states that the CRTC's new data-verification duty does not limit or replace any of its existing powers under other federal statutes.