NDP critic for Innovation, Science and Industry Brian Masse slammed Rogers over price hikes in a blog post on the NDP website on Monday. Masse took aim at Liberals as well for letting the price hikes happen.
Masse specifically took issue with recent reports about Rogers customers who thought their prices were locked for two years and were shocked to see higher bills after Rogers increased the cost of their TV box rentals, claiming those weren’t covered by the contract. Masse called on the Liberals to take action by threatening to ban Rogers from federal contracts if they don’t reverse the price hikes.
“The Liberals have been letting this happen because they’re too weak to protect consumers from getting gouged on their telco services,” Masse said.
“Outrageously, Justin Trudeau is handing out millions of taxpayer dollars to these same CEOs gouging Canadians. This needs to stop. Canadians are counting on their government to send a clear and strong signal that there will be consequences to gouging — Rogers must reverse the TV boxes charges or be banned from federal contracts.”
Masse went on to highlight that the Liberal government approved the $26 billion Rogers-Shaw merger in 2023 and that the Liberals have paid Rogers over $165 million in federal contracts over the last two years. One year after the merger, Rogers patted itself on the back, claiming it “increased competition and choice.” However, so far this year, Rogers raised prices on customers at least four times (1, 2, 3, 4) and announced the shutdown of its prepaid network, eliminating lower-cost options for customers. More egregiously, Rogers reportedly changed its rules to block prepaid balance transfers before announcing the shutdown, leaving prepaid customers stuck with tens or even hundreds of dollars in prepaid balances that will disappear in the shutdown.
Masse fired shots at Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre as well, pointing out that Rogers owner Edward Rogers is one of many funding Poilievre’s campaign.
“[Poilievre] is only thinking about himself, and not about protecting you and your wallet from corporate greed. Under a New Democratic government, there would be no free passes to telco giants—gouging Canadians would have consequences,” Masse said.
Via: iPhone in Canada
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