Yes, in Canada our government doesn't believe in open access or competition, not unless it benefits the incumbent carriers.<p>Innovation in Canada is a bad word as we believe that the big carriers (Rogers, Bell, Telus, etc.) must be protected at all costs. The carriers win and innovation loses.<p>Don't even get me started on how startups are treated outside of the small but passionate startup communities.
This should be a warning to those who are clamoring for "net neutrality". Government regulation tends to be justified by claiming it helps the little guy. It inevitably ends up being protection for the big guy.<p>Problems should be viewed as opportunities to make money, not as excuses to grow government. High prices should entice competitors into the Canadian marketplace. My guess is that the very government regulations designed to protect consumers now function to keep out these competitors who could offer better services at lower prices.
In my opinion, what is wrong with Canada is Canadians. Nobody cares. The government, the companies, the unions, everybody is f<i></i>*-ing up that country, yet, people could care less. It's even worse, ask any Canadian, and chances are they would tell you what a great country Canada is and how Canada has it so much better than the US. Last year, 77% of Canadians ranked Canada as 10 out of 10 as the best country to live in. 77%!!! I doubt that even the brainwashed North Koreans would vote 77% for their country.
This article makes 3 very valid points about the way Canada is currently viewing the digital area in such a backwards way. There's other examples of CRTC negligence such as when they mandated the creation of a "Canadian" HBO since for some reason we couldn't get the stream directly from the US.<p>In the States they also have fiber installations going directly into the houses and I haven't even heard of anything like that here in Canada. ADSL has a "Max" package of 6mbps which is laughable, while the cable operator (Shaw) has one that's 25mbps however they charge $100/month! And that's just for Internet! This is the biggest annoyance to me personally as Canada used to be a leader in broadband availability but we've stayed with the same speed structure for the last 5+ years and are falling faster and faster behind the leading nations.<p>With the new frequencies available for wireless bandwidth hopefully we'll see some new competition in the cell phone sector as it's desperately needed!
Ya, there's some stuff that sucks in regards to digital media in Canada but it's not like everything is ruined once a bill is passed. If a new C-61 makes it through, it will suck for a few years until people get annoyed and it will be overturned or amended.
Here in Québec, Microsoft has the monopoly in the public sphere. The government does not do any bid invitations when it comes to buying computers. The open source is completely ignored.