Liberals Come out Against Internet Metering as Petition Passes 200K

OpenMedia.ca Commends Liberal Party for Strong Stance on Internet Metering, Pushes Conservatives

February 1, 2011 – The Liberal Party of Canada issued a statement today that won praise from citizen engagement group OpenMedia.ca. The organization behind the rapidly growing Stop The Meter petition is commending the Liberals for a taking a firm stance in opposition to usage-based billing (Internet metering).

OpenMedia.ca is pleased that the Liberals have learned from the 220,000 people who have so far taken part in the campaign to “stop the meter on Internet use”, and reverse the CRTC decision that allows usage-based billing to monopolize the system for pricing the Internet.

“Liberals believe in more internet competition, not less,” said Liberal Heritage Critic Pablo Rodriquez in a statement released today, seemingly echoing the words on OpenMedia.ca’s homepage: “Canadians want more Internet, not less”.

Led by Rodriquez and Industry and Technology Critic Marc Garneau, the Liberal Party has now become the second major federal party to officially condemn Internet metering. Digital Affairs Critic Charlie Angus expressed the NDP’s opposition to the pricing regime in a release two weeks ago.

“We’re elated by this move by the Liberals,” said Steve Anderson, OpenMedia.ca’s national coordinator. “Over the last few months, supporters of Stop The Meter came together as citizens, and today they fundamentally influenced federal politics. This is a groundbreaking example of the power of the online discourse and organization, and why we must protect the open, public Internet.”

Proponents of Stop The Meter are now calling out Federal Industry Minister Tony Clement, and asking him to overturn the CRTC’s Internet metering decisions.

Clement released a statement last night with a statement of support for “competition, innovation, and consumers” in general, but OpenMedia.ca holds that Canadians will not be happy until have access to Internet services free of metering.

Anderson’s response: "Clement is going to have to do more than ask the CRTC to do some tinkering with UBB pricing. He must either overturn all the CRTC rulings that force pricing schemes on Big Telecom’s independent competitors, or at minimum have the CRTC revisit the entire premise of forced UBB pricing."

OpenMedia.ca is encouraging Canadians continue to stand against new Internet fees by signing the Stop The Meter petition at: http://stopthemeter.ca

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Contact

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
778-238-7710
[email protected]

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit public engagement organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Our primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunication policy formation.

About Stop The Meter

In October, Canadians were outraged by the news that the CRTC had decided to allow Bell and other big Internet service providers (ISPs) to impose new fees on independent ISPs – usage-based billing. Now every Internet user in Canada is likely to feel the sting of a less affordable Internet, and a less competitive Internet service market. Recognizing the importance of this issue, OpenMedia.ca launched the Stop The Meter campaign.

Since its inception, this multi-platform petition, based at http://www.StopTheMeter.ca and in French at http://openmedia.ca/compteur, become a record breaker and a game changer. Over 220,000 names have now been added to the website, Facebook, Twitter, and in print.

Past Press Releases about Internet Metering

See: http://openmedia.ca/press