To do that, the CRTC would have had to create a subcategory of wireless public alerts — one distinct from the "broadcast immediately" emergency alert messages, as defined by the Senior Officials Responsible for Emergency Management, or SOREM, a working group of federal, provincial and territorial managers.
The pitch was rejected by the CRTC, which cited a lack of consensus among interveners about which alerts should be optional, and the need for consistency on emergency alerts across broadcast and wireless receivers "so that Canadians can receive the same alerts regardless of transmission medium."