Harper The Bottom Feeder to Dion: "Fish or Cut Bait."

Harper was preaching to his “peeps” in Quebec today and acting up with his usual bullying and bluster. He is suggesting Dion “fish or cut bait” for a fall election is rich coming from Harper.

Dion has been trolling and playing the Harper bottom feeders for a few months now. Steve is frustrated because he doesn’t know how to govern and he can’t learn fast enough now.

He has been trying to engineer his defeat for over a year and a half. He has used every cheap procedural trick in the Commons Committee Procedural Manual to keep from delivering on a promise for a Public Inquiry into the Mulroney/Schreiber Affair. We are still waiting Steve.

He has made a mockery out of Parliament by insisting that even the most mundane of his legislative tripe was indeed a confidence vote. He has been conning Canadians since January 2006. And Canadians still don’t what an election – they have been waiting patiently and hoping to see if Harper can show up and prove he can govern the country like a leader and not like a mini-George Bush. Harper is in a minority government and will have to earn the trust and confidence of Canadians to get a majority. So far all he does is try to defeat the Liberals. You did that in January 2006 Steve. Now you have to try and win one, not wait for the Liberals to lose.

If Harper wants an election now - all he need to do pay a visit to the Governor General and resign. Pretty simple stuff. Why won’t he do it? Because he needs someone to blame for things. Like the “defeat” of his “government.” He lacks the character, courage and the conviction to run on his own merits.

Harper’s suggestion that there is “current work of government” going on that is being delayed and he “can’t get on with his mandate is also laughable. There is now current work of government, at least not anything of merit or substance. And Harper has been bragging for over a year he has already delivered on his five point mandate. So he can’t use that excuse with any credibility.

It is all cheap Rovarian-like campaign theatrics right out of the Bush Republican playbook. To most Canadians that old style politics is very tiresome. Unfortunately no one in the Harper brain trust apparently knows how to adapt to the changing attitudes and circumstances in the land. A one-trick bully is all they are.

Quit acting like an opposition leader Steve and start acting like a real Prime Minister. Grow up and show us a man with leadership ability. Show us someone who is capable of governing from a position of empathy and statesmanship. Show us a government that is prepared to strengthen Canada and Canadians with a governing style that protects and empowers us.

If you like this PM gig and you want to keep it you will have to prove yourself to be worthy of the consent of Canadians to govern. It is not just good enough for you to continue to be a schoolyard bullying who’s only talent is political brinkmanship.

Does Big Telco Really Want To Charge for Internet Site Access?

Looks like the bandwagon is getting going about the competitive practices in the marketplace by the Big Telcos. That is the way it looks if the piece by Sarah Schmidt from the Canwest News Service is any indication.

The backlash is starting against Big Telco and we ought not to let them off the hook (sic). Many years ago it was backlash against The Big Three automakers out of Detroit. We can see what is happening to them for lack of effective response to the public demands. Then it moved to Big Tobacco and, then Big Pharma. Now it is Big Telco’s turn to feel the marketplace backlash from the public.

Now it is a more interesting phenomenon and a more level playing field for the public because of the Internet. People (like citizens) are in an ugly mood and an Ipsos Reid survey says 55% of us are ticked, mad or angry these days. And 35% of us apparently feel helpless to change things and we bottle up our frustration. Change is not easy and activism take energy, focus and commitment but that is the price of freedom my friends.

Some notable examples of activism folks who have started Facebook Groups. Then we see the emergence and thriving of http://www.ruinediphone.com/. This site was originally an anti-Rogers site that has apparently morphed into a “…one-stop shop for ticked off wireless customers.”

I am worried about Net Neutrality and see the FCC has decided that it is illegal for Comcast, an cable operator in the States, to interfere with peer-to-peer Internet traffic. As I understand it some of Big Telco is planning to charge per-site fees on most Internet sites. This is a violation of our Charter Rights of free speech and free association. If that is not bad enough, it is really economic censorship. Those with money get access to information and those without, don’t.

This privatization of access to information is so 19th century. The open and free access to information on the Internet is one of the best guarantees of an open and accountable democracy. To allow Big Telco to determine who gets to access and use information based on fees for site access is a threat of enormous proportions.

Big Telcos seem to think the Internet should be like specialty subscription television. That is a stupid as saying television should be like radio. That said, given all the talking heads on TV these days, TV has become too much in common with radio.

The Internet is far from perfect and is down- right dangerous in some cases. I am thinking child pornography and sexual luring, especially of children. However it is society and our legislators who ought to be making the rules, settings the community standards and dealing with abuse. We ought not to delegate this social responsibility of dealing with the Internet to Big Telco.

Free speech is not free, and its protection demands vigilance by citizens. There is a price to pay to sustain the right of free speech. To allow Big Telco to set the rules, the standards and privatize free speech as they see fit is wrong and contrary to a free and democratic society.

Citizens need to get involved to protect their free speech rights, from government and industry and even some special interests kooks too. Speak out and let your voice be heard – at least amongst your neighbours, co-workers, friends and family.

Free Speech! Use it or lose it.

Edward Greenspan Also Questions if There is Competition in Cell Phone Services

The pressure continues to mount on Big Telcos to become more serious about competition – particularly with each other and comparatively with other countries. Rogers, Bell and Telus dominate the Canadian marketplace and are hardly rushing to reduce wireless rates in Canada that would bring them more in line with other countries.


Now Edward Greenspan, writing in his Sun newspaper column is now on the bandwagon to question what is happening here. Wireless is unregulated in Canada but with only three providers who dominate the market the consumer is not being well served by the “normal” market forces.

We are not alone in being taken for granted by a market dominated by a few service providers. Mexico suffers as well.
Wireless service is a commodity where competition should work well but is it not. One has to wonder why. One answer is consumers are not protesting to providers about costs and service levels. From the supplier side, if the market will bear the cost, why lower prices? Could it be that Pogo was right? We have seen the enemy and it is us?

If new providers are coming on to the market from the recent spectrum auction, we consumers have to support them if they are to inject some competition and restore a free marketplace.


Then we have to ensure the Competition Bureau monitors matters carefully so they do not get bought up by the Big Three as has been the history of Canadian wireless services.

Leonard Cohen International Festival Gala is a HIT!

I did a note on my Facebook page on a thoroughly delightful evening last night listening to great talent sing and read from Leonard Cohen's works. The event was the Edmonton version of the Leonard Cohen International Festival currently going on in town.

Yesterday was my second anniversary as a Blogger. While this post is not my usual "Fare" anyone who knows me will understand why I would post this Facebook Note about last night's wonderful event.

I watched the Edmonton staging of the Rexall Indy race on television in the afternoon and basked in the words and music of Cohen in the evening. Two of my great interests fulfilled on the same day, open car racing and music/poetry.

Check out my "review."

Facebook Your Notes

Is Big Telco Taking Canadians for Granted?

The expectation is that we lowly consumers will start to get some price and service competition in the wireless services in Canada with the auction of the new spectrum and assuring some competition for the big three, Bell, Rogers and Telus who now receive 95% of cell phone revenues in Canada. The little guys have sure run up the bidding war for the spectrum licenses to $4.25 B - over three times the anticipated revenues. As much as I like to rag on the Harper government, if what I hear is true that they plan to apply this windfall to pay down part of the national debt – I say good on ‘em.


Big Telco has come under fire recently for prices that are usury. The Rogers small reduction in iPhone rates shows a modicum of marketplace responsiveness. The plan by Bell and Telus to charge $.15 per text message received, much of which is spam, is really offensive. The cell phone costs in Canada are ridiculous to the point it makes you wonder if there really is a competitive market in this service. I can get Internet and bundled services on the same wireless system for like $55 a month but some basic cell phone charges can run to $150 per month. What gives? And they wonder why Canada is lagging behind other countries in adopting of cell phones.

A friend just came back from a month in Austria, Hungry and Czechoslovakia! In the Czech Republic, some 20 years out of Communism, she could buy a cell phone for $20 and an unlimited access card for $20 per month. She used her Canadian cell phone service provider for the month instead and she expects about a $2,000 roaming bill. The service levels and costs are not competitive with other countries either. Canadian bandwidth comparables are 7.8 megabytes per second at a monthly cost of $6.54 per megabyte, better than Belgium, Netherlands and Iceland. In Japan you can get Bandwidth at 93.7 Mb/s at a cost of $.36 per Mb/second. France and South Korea provide Bandwidth at about 45 Mb/s at a cost between $.84 and $.97 per Mb/second. Astounding compared to Canada


The other high bandwidth low cost wireless service countries are Sweden, Finland, Australia and Norway. I don’t understand why Canadians are paying such uncompetitive wireless prices for such low levels of service and options. This is an individual rip off and a global competitiveness issue for Canada too. In a wired, globalized competitive knowledge based economy low taxes are nice but low costs are critical factors too.

So the Big Three in Canada used to be in the North American auto industry players of GM, Ford and Chrysler. No more are they dominant. IN fact they are barely surviving. Why? Because Japan, South Korea and Sweden – to name a few car making competitors, ate their lunch. I am all for the free market place where appropriate. Wireless service is one of those appropriate places. But the seeds of failure are planted in the success of the dominant players. It happened in cars and it can happen in cellular services too. Big Telco in Canada is clearly not as competitive as the free market players would have you believe. Nor are they as competitive as we consumers deserve.

I am not saying there is anything illegal going on like price fixing or collusion as in Quebec gasoline prices. I am saying Canadian wireless consumers are being taken for granted and we seem to be taking it gladly by not standing up against usury pricing when compared to others in the world.

I am pulling for the new players coming into the wireless spectrum and looking for options. I expect many more Canadians are with me in this quest.