Cabinet receives 33,000+ petition signatures to reverse CRTC’s home Internet price hikes

Petition calls on government to overturn CRTC’s 2021 Internet wholesale rates decision, citing ruling’s harm to affordability and competition.

MAY 24, 2022 — Today OpenMedia delivered over 33,000 petition signatures to Cabinet calling on policymakers to overturn the CRTC’s 2021 Internet wholesale rates decision. The petition argues that the CRTC’s choice to backtrack on their 2019 ruling, and return to the oppressively high 2016 rates, is holding Internet affordability in Canada back and making it difficult for smaller ISPs to survive. 

“Cabinet is holding the future of affordable Internet in their hands,” said OpenMedia Campaigner Erin Knight. “Our current CRTC has shown little interest in making our connectivity bills cheaper; Chair Ian Scott is too busy cozying up to Big Telecom over beers. We need Cabinet to take a stand and recognize that in order to achieve affordable access across the country, we desperately need real competition and choice. Independent ISPs should not be forking over huge sums to Big Telecom in order to gain wholesale access to their networks; ordinary Canadians are the ones who pay the price. We see the effects around us; after the CRTC’s 2021 wholesale rates decision, Internet prices in Canada went up immediately, and they’re still on the rise. Trudeau and Cabinet cannot stand by while the CRTC condemns people in Canada to decades more of Big Telecom’s price gouging.”

Alongside the 33,000+ petition signers, members of the OpenMedia community have also emailed Cabinet and their MPs nearly 17,000 times to demand affordable connectivity.