PUBLIC-INTEREST GROUPS AND THE CANADIAN INFORMATION-HIGHWAY

The Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC), a committee represent ing commercial and non-commercial interests, was struck by Industry Ca nada in 1994 to provide policy advice on advanced communications infra structure and services, Public interest groups, that is non-profit adv ocacy organizations not directly tied to any business or industrial in terests, also tried to provide input into and responses to the work of the IHAC. The formation and activities of the Coalition for Public In formation and the Alliance for a Connected Canada, are representative of public interest activities in Canada, The nature and extent of part icipation of these groups in the work of IHAC can be seen as a gauge o f the receptivity of the government to questions and issues that were not on its agenda, and of the declining legitimacy of the institutions of telecommunications governance in Canada. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.