Competition in telecommunications is critical to the sector, Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne said in a statement Thursday. That means he “will simply not permit” Rogers to pick up all of Shaw’s licences for wireless communications in their proposed multibillion-dollar merger, he said. (The Logic)

Talking point: Champagne’s spokesperson Alex Wellstead added in an interview that competition and affordability are the Liberal government’s key priorities in the cellphone market, so Champagne is open to hearing ways that those can be preserved if Rogers’s buyout of Shaw goes ahead. “This is a strong, firm proactive statement of his policy position,” Wellstead said. Calgary-based Shaw has its own wireless service and a discount brand, Freedom Mobile, that Rogers, with its own discount Fido brand, could be ordered to divest. Quebecor’s Pierre Karl Péladeau is open about his desire to buy Freedom Mobile as part of a quest to compete nationally with Rogers, Telus and Bell.