The big question is: why did Canada have to jump on the free market bandwagon, when it was believed corporations would need support? Was it to let competitors in and open up the market to the global economy? Are we witnessing the demise of another Canadian industry?
We are the lackeys of the United States. Canada does not have the same government structure, and we don’t have the population density. Yet, somehow our government doesn’t seem to understand Canada. We’ve been programmed to follow, like lemmings, every move of our powerful neighbour.
Before the 1990s, Canada’s rural areas were well serviced by local telephone companies. The government ensured that local areas were serviced. Then the idea of bigger and better came into effect. The cry was: get the government out of our lives! Service went the way of the dodo, and the consumer was lost in the shuffle.
The first time the existence of other phone companies came to my attention was after someone switched me to Yak for long distance. My service had been changed without my knowledge (I am still confused about how that happened).
The call to switch back produced an offer too good to refuse. The deal was (or so I thought) unlimited long distance to the countries we called the most, for $29.99 per month. The company hooked and landed me. All went well until someone got sick and the phone was used more than usual. Then came the huge long distance bill.
Apparently, unlimited didn’t really mean unlimited; unlimited had a maximum number of hours attached to it, which they failed to tell me. Needless to say it didn’t take me long to switch back.
Now, the CRTC revelation is making me feel foolish. It exposes the powerlessness of the consumer. The original companies charged higher fees to the consumer and lower access fees to companies, like Yak, so that the companies could undercut them. Neither Bell nor Yak nor the government gave a tinker’s dam about me, the consumer.
Canada is not the United States. We don’t need shareholders making a profit from our basic services. There are not enough people to ensure a descent return for the shareholders of multiple national companies. Multiple businesses cannot operate profitably unless there is some kind of government involvement or the continual fleecing of the consumer.
If the government has to become involved, isn’t it better for the government to operate the service? That way there are no shareholders and profits can be used to keep rates lower. Isn’t this the only sensible thing to do, in Canada? Not in a global economy, obviously! Bring on the multinational corporations, and that’s another story.
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