Bring down the Rogers-Shaw deal for GOOD: Email your MP NOW!

This is our LAST opportunity to bring the entire anti-affordability Rogers-Shaw deal to its knees — but we need your help.

On May 9th, the Competition Bureau made headlines siding with Canadians against Rogers’ bid for even more power and influence. But they just picked a fight with a giant who says it won’t give up its plans to buy Shaw.^1,2,3

Now, Rogers’ lobbyists will bring everything they’ve got to convince Innovation Minister Champagne to push the deal through. What they aren’t counting on? Thousands of people in Canada speaking up to drown out their lobbying.

Here’s the strategy: we bring our MPs into the fray to publicly pressure Minister Champagne, making it politically impossible for him to side with Big Telecom. On board? Email your MP NOW: Call on Minister Champagne to block Rogers from buying Shaw!

To: Your Member of Parliament
CC: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada

Use the box below to start crafting an email to your member of Parliament! Your MP's name will replace the placeholder {contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName} text based on the postal code you enter in the form below.

{contact_data~firstName} {contact_data~lastName},

I’m a resident of your riding, and I’m calling on you to urge ISED Minister Champagne to stand with our Competition Bureau and block Rogers from buying Shaw under any circumstances.

As you know, the Competition Bureau just challenged the merger, saying the deal will raise prices and reduce choice for Canadians across the country. The Bureau is joining Parliament’s bipartisan INDU committee report from earlier this year, which recommended the buyout be totally blocked — in ALL cases, including if Freedom Mobile is removed from the deal.

We know that the rising telecom prices that will come from this deal are the last thing our country needs, particularly while the costs of food, gas and other basic goods are already rising sharply, and while we continue to pay some of the highest connectivity prices in the world.

Minister Champagne can extinguish this deal now by insisting that wireless spectrum owned by Shaw must STAY with Shaw, and may not be divested to Rogers or any other party, leaving the Rogers-Shaw buyout dead in the water.

Canadian voters like me will be watching to see what the Minister does, and what MPs like you advised him. With or without Freedom Mobile, the Rogers-Shaw buyout is bad for people in Canada and must be blocked.

Sincerely,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

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So far, our MPs have called Rogers-Shaw a bad deal ✅, the Competition Bureau has called it a bad deal ✅, but Minister Champagne has not ❌. As the one person who can fully stop this buyout, we need Champagne’s full-throated opposition.

The Competition Bureau coming out against Rogers-Shaw means something HUGE: our voices HAVE BEEN HEARD. To date, we’ve sent the Bureau over 68,000 signatures, comments and survey responses from the OpenMedia community and beyond (shout out to our friends at ACORN, Leadnow, and North99!) calling on them to block Rogers-Shaw outright. We just witnessed the power of YOU in action — and it’s awesome.^4,5

But the deal is FAR from over, and Rogers WILL be fighting back with money, power, and lobbyists.⁶ Rogers has shown they’re willing to sacrifice buying Freedom Mobile (Shaw’s cell phone carrier) if it means the other parts of the deal will still be approved — AKA the “Freedom Mobile spinoff” scenario. But Freedom or no Freedom, as a whole the Rogers-Shaw buyout is bad for people in Canada and should be blocked outright.^7-9 Here’s a few quick reasons why:

Loss of home Internet competition: Even if the cell phone portion of the deal is removed, allowing Rogers to buy out Shaw will still give Rogers unprecedented control over vast amounts of Canada’s Internet — a recipe for serious harm to home Internet competition, choice, and affordability in Canada.

Loss of innovation: Historically, Shaw has been a first mover and innovator in Canada, building their brand on being one of the first to offer free routers, free wifi hotspots in public, wifi pods at home, and through Freedom, and unlimited mobile data. Losing the pressure of Shaw means Rogers, and other giants, have less incentive to provide innovative services to customers.

The future of Freedom Mobile: Spinning off Freedom in order to sell it to another telecom giant like Quebecor, or even Xplornet, is no better of a solution than selling it to Rogers. The outcome is the same: yet another important competitor will be lost, and people in Canada will continue to pay some of the highest prices in the world for cell phone services.¹⁰

This our last, golden opportunity to stop the Rogers-Shaw deal for good. The Competition Bureau just proved how powerful our voices are when we speak up together — which is why we CANNOT let Rogers’ voice be the only one Minister Champagne hears now. If the Minister takes a key stance against this deal, Rogers-Shaw is dead in the water.

We need to remind the Minister that all eyes are on him; any version of the Rogers-Shaw deal, Freedom Mobile or not, is bad for Canadians and must be stopped. We won’t accept less. If you haven’t already, take action to stop Rogers-Shaw by emailing your MP!

Sources

Competition Bureau seeks full block of Rogers’ proposed acquisition of Shaw - Competition Bureau Canada
Competition Bureau seeks to block Rogers-Shaw buyout - OpenMedia
Rogers, Shaw vow to fight competition watchdog’s plan to block deal - The Globe and Mail
Your voice, DELIVERED: OpenMedia’s latest petition to stop Rogers from buying Shaw is in! - OpenMedia
Federal government hit with over 62,000 signatures of support to block Rogers-Shaw buyout - OpenMedia
See 3
Proposed Acquisition of Shaw Communications by Rogers Communications: Better Together? Report of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology - House of Commons
Elected MPs said no to the Rogers-Shaw buyout. Will Justin Trudeau dare say yes? - Toronto Star
Consumer groups and opposition parties support move to block Rogers-Shaw merger - National Post
2021 report shows Canada’s cell phone prices STILL among most expensive globally - OpenMedia

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Press: Rosa Addario | Phone: +1 (888) 441-2640 ext. 0 | [email protected]

Bring down the Rogers-Shaw deal for GOOD: Email your MP NOW!

To: Your Member of Parliament CC: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada

If you haven't taken action yet click here

To: Your Member of Parliament
CC: François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada