When it comes to net neutrality — the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) should treat all the content on their networks equally — Canada and the U.S. are rapidly moving in opposite directions. An advisor to President Donald Trump has criticized Canada’s telecom watchdog for declaring that ISPs can't favour traffic from one source over traffic from another source. “Sorry Canada, now you're in the class with backward India,” tweeted Roslyn Layton, whom Trump hired as part of the transition team for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the U.S.’s telecom regulator.

US, EU, Slovenia and now Netherlands say zero rating is ok. What gives @CRTCeng? Sorry Canada, now you're in the class with backward India. — Roslyn Layton, PhD (@RoslynLayton) April 21, 2017

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruled last week that Internet providers can’t discriminate between different types of traffic in order to promote their own preferred services. Consumer advocates worldwide hailed the move as a significant victory for net neutrality, especially given that, in the U.S., the FCC has indicated it will be moving in the opposite direction. The U.S. telecom regulator is expected to announce on Wednesday a roll-back of net neutrality rules put in place during the Obama administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Roslyn Layton has criticized the CRTC for ruling in favour of net neutrality. (Photo: Klean Denmark via Flickr) In a submission to the CRTC last fall, Layton argued that net neutrality is being pushed by an international lobby, and that net neutrality rules could harm innovation in Canadian mobile products. She doubled down on this argument in a tweet asserting that the U.S. will dominate innovation, thanks to the Canadian ruling.

Amer internet innovation assured preeminence as Canada restricts zero rating. Sad for their small providers and poor https://t.co/hF9tCbxKmK — Roslyn Layton, PhD (@RoslynLayton) April 20, 2017