I didn't even know what the CIRA was until I attempted to investigate registering my first .ca domain, which was well after I got into domaining. The average joe hardly knows what a domain name is, never mind the underlying registry for a specific TLD.
I agree this is a good thing, and from an SEO standpoint, anyone can create sub-domains and I would rather have the geo in the front, i.e. ontario.beaches.ca (not my domain, sorry for the reference).
I know everyone who pays their $20. is entitled to post their thoughts.
But, a lot of members here have been doing this for 10 years, and thoroughly understand the history of the .ca TLD and its wonderful uniqueness. Many of the more experienced members also do web development, instead of just flipping domains, which therefore provides a wider perspective.
This backdoor change is gutless, wrong, and has ZERO merit. (I'm still waiting for a SINGLE reason to be posted that makes sense.)
For the uninformed cynics that are here:
Consider these 2 nefarious organizations, their provincial counterparts, and their respective .ca reg's:
heartandstroke.ab.ca
heartandstroke.bc.ca
heartandstroke.ca
heartandstroke.mb.ca
heartandstroke.nb.ca
heartandstroke.nf.ca
heartandstroke.ns.ca
heartandstroke.on.ca
heartandstroke.pe.ca
heartandstroke.qc.ca
heartandstroke.sk.ca
girlguides.ca
girlguides.mb.ca
girlguides.nb.ca
girlguides.ns.ca
girlguides.pe.ca
girlguides.sk.ca
These organizations are using the .ca system exactly as it should be used - each prov. group can maintain their identity, their own domain, on their own server, as they can and feel. (Sub-domains cannot accomplish this).
This has worked tremendously since before CIRA.
For some capricious, and apparently top-secret, reason, CIRA is now saying that it's no good.
If the Girl Guides of Alberta wanted to create girlguides.ab.ca, they would not be able.
If the volunteer maintaining girlguides.sk.ca forgets to renew, tough (if you haven't received an email with this scenario - our volunteer forgot to renew - then you haven't been domaining enough).
This is the most absurd change possible, and goes against Industry Canada's mandate.