Government needs to step in and regulate our telecoms

Re Lower bills for wireless, Editorial, Dec. 3

Clearly your editorial advocating that more competition is the only way to lower the price of digital services in Canada needs a reality check. To give credence to the government’s current solution — “allow the CRTC to step in if that competition isn’t leading to lower prices,” which has proven not to work — is surrendering reason to political futility. Currently, the competition between Bell, Rogers and Telus has produced just more of the same high pricing, whereas regulation judiciously applied when necessary would create social economic justice for all.

In fact, Europe has demonstrated that government intervention in digital communication has lowered prices and increased choice via a more regulated digital economy.

Ironically, such an equal economic outcome by capitalism in Europe restrained by government isn’t anything new.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s government used regulations to negotiate a New Deal with U.S. capitalism to save it from the self-consuming destructive greed that led to the 1929 Great Depression.

When capitalism is unrestrained by government, the first casualties are consumers — that’s why Canadians pay the most for digital services. So it’s time for a new deal between our democratic government and the digital service providers in Canada to bring about consumer justice in the marketplace.

Peace, order and the good government of capitalism should be our new operating system. Government needs to save capitalism from itself once again.

Competition is delusional when it doesn’t differentiate prices but standardizes gouging.

Tony D’Andrea, Toronto