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By now we are all aware of the federal government policy inviting US giant Verizon to obtain a lion share of the Canadian telecom market at bargain prices at the expense of Canadian owned companies BCE, Telus and Rogers currently dominating the market.
BCE (Bell) has been very vocal on the subject: http://web.tmxmoney.com/article.php?newsid=61797553&qm_symbol=BCE
How do Canadians feel about the federal government policy?
Valve - You being retired from Bell and getting your pension cheques from them every month and your dividend cheques every three months, how does it feel to send $10 monthly to the Conservative Party ?
Now, most Canadians with a cellphone feel they pay too much and hope American competition will help reduce the monthly charge.
Reality check: a recent study commissioned by the Conservative federal government through Industry Canada and CRTC found:
For a plan including 450 incoming and outgoing minutes, voice mail and call display and 300 text messages per month, the cost was $44.86 in Canada. A similar plan in the U.S. cost $76.14 and $38.85 in Britain after adjusting for currency and the relative purchasing power of the Canadian dollar.
A plan including 1,200 incoming and outgoing minutes, 300 text messages and one gigabyte of data usage per month was $93.59 in Canada, $145.79 in the U.S. and $63.52 in Britain after currency adjustments.
The question is: What do you think of Harper's telecom policies?
"What did you do before cell phone technology?"
I do not know. I do not have a cellphone (yet). This thread has nothing to do with using or paying for a cellphone.
What do you think of the government policies?
"According to the 2010 article"
That is the problem. Forget three years ago. The federal government is CHANGING THE RULES, this year.
"I think the potential preferential treatment being available to Verizon is kinda beside the point and insignificant."
– A clear majority of Canadians (81%) preferred that neither foreign nor Canadian‐owned telecommunications companies are favoured in the upcoming government auction of the airwaves used by wireless phone companies according to the results of a survey conducted by Nanos Research
Full details of the survey (2,000 Canadians) are available at: http://www.nanosresearch.com/library/polls/POLNAT-W12-T582E.pdf
When I first read the results of the Nanos survey I had two reactions:
1) pleased to see that the vast majority (81%) of Canadians had a similar opinions - nothing to do with political orientation. Too often we see opinions being a reflection of what a party leader stated. Not in this case. That felt good.
2) surprised that as many as 19% would feel differently.
Your posts confirm that yes some Canadians are willing to give American companies preferential treatment.
And life does go on.
"I say, let them come. If Verizon hikes the prices to the sky, at least we will live healthier. If they scare big 3 into pricing wars, that works well too."
I have no problem having Verizon come into Canada and compete with the three large Canadian telecom companies - competition is good - with two conditions:
1 - They be given the same treatment - not preferential treatment as proposed by the federal government
2 - Canadian companies be offered to same opportunities to enter the huge American market on the same conditions. That is called reciprocity.
The one thing I find fascinating on the subject is the fact the Conservatives portray their policy as "defending the interest of the consumers" while the NDP is defending the interest of three large Canadian corporations.
It is the world upside down. We expect the Conservatives to promote businesses and the NDP to promote the consumers.
"Factories close and head south of the border."
In the context of this thread, you are now closing factories, you are simply losing Canadian jobs (unionized or not) and replacing them by American jobs. You are also taking taxable profits by Canadian corporations and sending them to the USA.
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