Five Conservative and Bloc Québécois MPs who are members of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology (INDU), including its two vice-chairs, are calling on the committee’s Liberal chair, Joël Lightbound, to initiate a hearing on the increasing prices of wireless services.
In a letter dated Jan. 8 and obtained by Cartt, INDU committee vice-chairs Rick Perkins (Conservative) and Sébastien Lemire (Bloc Québécois), along with Conservative MPs Ryan Williams, Bernard Généreux and Brad Vis, take aim at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government’s policy decisions that they claim “are increasing costs for Canadians across the board.”
“Cell phone bills are again on the rise in Canada. Customers of Rogers learned that their cell phone bills will increase beginning January 17. Bell and Telus have refused to comment if they will also increase cell phone prices,” the MPs’ letter reads.
Saying “Canadians already face some of the highest cell phone prices in the world, due to the lack of competition offered”, the group says Canada’s wireless phone market was worsened this past year by the Liberal government’s approval of Rogers’s acquisition of Shaw.
“The looming price hike by Rogers appears to be the first material impact of Canada’s cell phone market becoming less competitive,” they write, noting Rogers’s CEO pledged that the company’s takeover of Shaw would mean “prices are going to come down.”
“In addition, the Liberal Minister of Industry also echoed this claim when he approved the deal claiming he would watch it ‘like a hawk’. It is now evident that wireless giants, and the Liberal government lied to Canadians,” the MPs write.
Canada’s telecom sector needs more competition, not less, they say.
“Given the fact the Liberal government approved the decision to make Canada’s telecommunications market smaller and less competitive, the Minister of Industry must answer for the latest price increase by Rogers, and potential price increases by Bell and Telus.”
The group says “the committee must convene at the earliest opportunity to discuss an urgent study on the increasing costs of cell phone packages in direct contradiction to the testimony of wireless CEOs before this committee January 27, 2023, and statements made by the Liberal Minister of Industry.”
