Peter Menzies is a former Vice Chair (Telecommunications) and Alberta & Northwest Territories regional Commissioner with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. There, he was involved in major decisions involving service to northern and other remote communities, the establishment of the national emergency alerting system and the setting of the criteria establishing the Basic Service Objectives for telecommunications in Canada. He was also involved in major broadcasting decisions.

He is now a Senior Fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute specializing in communications policy. While he also advises tech companies, his views are always his own.

He has consulted for think tanks on educational and media projects and writes frequently on the impact of the Internet on society for The Line, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post and Troy Media through which his work has been published in the Victoria Times-Colonist, Winnipeg Free Press, Hamilton Spectator, Halifax Chronicle Herald and many other media. He also writes for Convivium Magazine on media, communications and cultural issues.

Previously. Menzies spent three decades as a working journalist and newspaper executive, most notably with the Calgary Herald where he served as its editorial page editor, editor in chief and, finally, publisher.

Over the course of his journalism career he served as a sports editor for the Calgary Sun, worked briefly during his 16 years at the Calgary Herald in the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa and the Alberta Legislature Press Gallery in Edmonton, won a National Newspaper Award for the detailed objectivity of a series outlining the contents of the Charlottetown Accord and another from the Association of Opinion Page Editors for a similarly objective project. 

He has served on several boards including Calgary Opera, Theatre Calgary, Alberta High Speed Rail and currently works in the Saskatchewan cultural sector. Peter obtained a B.A. from Acadia University, completed the journalism program at the University of Victoria, trained in mediation at Queen’s University and, most recently, obtained a certificate in Public Sector Governance from the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy.