The Auteurs: Ideas and Networks: The Intellectual Transformation of Communications Public Policy

Drawing from the public policy literature discussed earlier, the chapter locates a group of ideas and initiatives that aimed to transform the field of communications public policy in Canada. Particularly, it examines the ideas and networks between and among four different levels in the communications public policy hierarchy, arguing that each played a significant role in transforming the understanding of the role of Canadian communications public policy during the 1960s, and focusing mainly on the idea of public interest and the right to communicate. Public policy theorists argue that the rational-hierarchical model of public policy implementation starts with an analysis of the elected officials responsible for designing the general scope and philosophy of public policy in Canada. Adopting this framework, it first examines the role of Pierre Trudeau, not only because he represented the highest level in the power hierarchy of Canadian policy-making but also because of his unique political doctrine and philosophy, which greatly affected the way the Telecommission approached its investigation, especially concerning the treatment of communication as a human right. Then the role of Alan Gotlieb—the mind behind the Telecommission work, followed by Eric Kierans—the Agent Provocateur, and finally, Henry Hindley: the true pen of the Telecommission and Instant World report.