OTTAWA – March 16 is scheduled to be a national day of action where a coalition of consumer and social justice groups, policy experts, independent ISPs, and others will come together virtually “to demand the immediate implementation of federal measures to deliver affordable internet and wireless services in Canada and to put an end to constantly increasing bills,” reads a Thursday press release.
The groups believe the federal government and regulators “are giving free rein to big phone and cable companies to drive up prices while posting huge profits, unnecessarily taking hundreds of millions of taxpayer-funded labour subsidies, boosting dividend payouts to shareholders and laying off hundreds of workers,” adds the release.
Initial participants include: Acorn Canada; Brookfield Institute for Innovation + Entrepreneurship; activist and author Cory Doctorow; Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law Michael Geist; The Internet Society Canada Chapter; OpenMedia; Public Interest Advocacy Centre; Ryerson Leadership Lab; Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic; and TekSavvy Solutions.
A final list of participants and agenda will be unveiled on March 9.
