Conservatives to Canadians: U R Scrud

Over a month ago, Cell phone companies Bell and Telus came out with a big announcement. They came out and said that they were going to be charging their customers who don't have text packages (like I, as a Bell customer, do not have) a 15 cents per message fee for incoming messages. This got people pissed off, and quite rightly so, as both Bell and Telus were making obvious grab at cash for something that their customers have no way of controlling. The fact is that anyone who has a cellphone with texting abilities cannot control who sends them a text message anymore than someone can control people calling them. That move lead the NDP to start a campaign against this cash grab, and starting an online petition, while the Conservatives said they would be calling in these companies to explain themselves. The Conservatives, playing the populist card against this very unpopular more, promised to force these companies to explain themselves, and Industry Minister Jim Prentice even hinted at adding regulation to this relatively unregulated industry. So were the Conservatives serious??? Were they actually going to protect consumers???

Well, we got that answer yesterday and it was a resounding "No", the typical Conservative response. Here is what cbc.ca report on this matter yesterday:

"Minister of Industry Jim Prentice said Friday the government had no intention of introducing new legislation to regulate cellphone companies over changes in text messaging services.

Prentice had met with the heads of Bell Mobility and Telus over the companies' new texting charges introduced in July, which called for customers whose cellphone plans did not include texting bundles to be charged 15 cents for incoming text messages. Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages.

The charges were not popular with consumer groups, and New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton called them a "cash grab" and called for the government to step in.

But Prentice said in a statement Friday that after meeting with the two companies, he was "assured that customers charged for spam could contact their service provider to have the charges removed from their bills."

"Given these undertakings by Bell Mobility and Telus, I would encourage consumers dissatisfied with existing plans to seek alternatives. The telecommunications market in Canada is dynamic — choice is available," he said."

Yeah, thanks for giving into the cash grab there Mr. Prentice. To hear him say it, it'll be so easy to call these companies and get these charges removed, but of course there's one big problem: You'll actually have to prove that the message is spam. Basically, these companies are going to assume that every message that is sent is righteous until such time as it is proven to be otherwise. Also, that means that the only way that Canadians will be able to protect themselves will be to fight every single charge, and will have to contact the company every single time. Can anyone say "Negative Option Billing" because that seems to be exactly what this is. Of course, negative option billing was made illegal for cable companies over a decade ago for this very reason, but it looks like the Conservatives don't agree with that law.

In the meantime, the Conservatives suggestion is that "if you don't like your provider, switch". Well, as anyone knows who has tried it, that's much easier said that done. If you get a plan with most companies, you have a contract and if you want to break that contract, it usually is going to cost you big bucks. I remember when I bought out my contract with Rogers back in 2004, it cost me over $200. So how many people are going to go to the trouble of shopping around and then trying to get out of their contract over 15 cent charges when it could cost them into the hundreds to do so? Not as many as Mr. Prentice would like us to believe. But hey folks, lets face it, these Conservatives aren't in Ottawa to work. They are there to do as little as absolutely possible, so this "do nothing" stance fits them like a high priced glove. So once again, the Conservatives screw over the average Canadian, and do it with a smile on their faces. Thankfully the NDP is on this issue and pushing for the proper action.

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