People in Canada currently pay some of the highest prices in the world for home Internet and cell phone data plans.2,3 Our expensive bills are a burden on our finances, and a big reason why many people lack sufficient connectivity at home. It’s a severe, urgent, and long-standing problem, made worse by our government’s near-complete reliance on Big Telecom to fix it.
Letting Ottawa bet it all on Big Telecom for decades has given us soaring Internet and cell phone prices, and less provider choices for everyday people. And we know why: more choice and greater affordability is a direct threat to Big Telecom’s world-leading profits and power in Canada. They’ve proven they’re willing to fight to keep our Internet expensive, and make it harder for indie providers to offer you cheaper alternatives.
The government should be protecting us from these giants and their abusive business practices — but they aren’t. Instead, they’re backing Big Telecom when it counts, directly upholding unaffordable Internet and cell phone prices across the country, and outright abandoning their promises to make things better.4
In 2019, our government made a promise to lower our cell phone bills — a promise they swiftly broke. The 6GB & under plans they targeted in their approach aren’t even available from most cell phone carriers today, and overall, most of our monthly bills are higher than ever. Meanwhile under the government’s watch, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) not only blocked the introduction of low-cost cell phone providers to Canada, but also issued a decision on home Internet wholesale rates that directly led to price hikes. That's not all; when Rogers announced plans to buy out Shaw, signaling an even less competitive and more expensive future for connectivity in Canada, the government chose to remain silent rather than commit to blocking the sale.5-7 And during the 2021 federal election, the Federal Liberal party dropped almost all references to telecom affordability in their platform.8
The status quo MUST change. Right now, our government is hearing too much from Big Telecom, and not enough from everyday people.
This year, we’re giving all our representatives a wake-up call. We’re done waiting around for the Internet to magically become affordable under Big Telecom’s rule; we’re going to make the government listen to people, not telecom giants. If we can get hundreds of MPs speaking up about lowering Canada’s Internet and cell phone prices, Trudeau and Cabinet won’t be able to sweep this under the rug any longer. Email your MP NOW: push our government to lower Canada’s Internet and cell phone prices to match up with the rest of the world!