Watch out, Big 3: Canadians are making themselves heard

Posted by Lindsey Pinto on Monday, January 16, 2012 - 13:46

Image from cathyse97 on Flickr

I looked at the stats, took a moment to mentally process what I was seeing, then promptly choked on my tea. The Stop The Squeeze kickoff was by far our most successful campaign launch ever.¹

Before I write anything else, I have to say thank you. Pro-Internet community, you really rocked this one out. You took the initiative to add your names to the petition at http://StopTheSqueeze.ca and spread the word, and many of you went so far as to tell us your personal stories about price-gouging and disrespectful treatment from the Big 3 cell phone companies before the campaign launch. We at OpenMedia.ca strive to represent Canadians’ interests, engage with the pro-Internet community, and use our numbers to effect change in communications policy and law—your work makes ours a success.

While we're continuing to work hard on our other important campaigns—pushing back against warrantless online spying, fighting backdoor Internet price hikes, and more—it was hugely important for this one to start strong and be set up to succeed. Thanks to you, that's exactly what happened.

The first day of Stop The Squeeze gave us a spike in website traffic (especially from first-time visitors) that we haven’t seen since our game-changing Stop The Meter campaign. The participant count is already past 38,000, and soon that number too will be left in the dust. And because of that, the ears of some powerful people are perking up.

Enacting an essential wireless spectrum set-aside is a key part of our Action Plan and it feels like we're moving in the right direction. Let's keep going.

The media knows Canadians are fed up

They really do, and it's because so many Canadians signed the petition so quickly. Less than one week into the campaign, we’re up to our elbows in press coverage. Want a quick taste? Check out this piece from CTV Vancouver:

If that whetted your appetite for Stop The Squeeze coverage, you’re in luck. Here are links to some more of our favourite pieces:

Politicians are taking notice

If citizen engagement is a means (we at OpenMedia.ca consider it an end in itself, but we can put that notion aside for a moment), then the end is political attention. And we’re getting it.

As we reported earlier, the Liberal Party of Canada has come on-side, and has posted an open letter supporting our stance on wireless competition. It took all of a few hours for them to express their support, and if things go the way they usually do, it’s only a matter of time before the other federal parties step up to the plate and bat for Canadians’ interests.

The government is aware of our campaign, but told reporter St. John Alexander Friday that they still haven't made a decision:

At this juncture, political will is what will move us towards more affordability, choice, and opportunity. If enough of us come together—it looks like we will, thanks to you—our Industry Minister Christian Paradis will have no choice but to heed our call: stop the cell phone squeeze.

The future of cell phone communications is the future of the Internet, and in many ways the future of our economy. It's abundantly clear that ensuring affordable, independent options for cell phone service is good for Canada, especially for those in rural regions, many of whom lack service altogether right now.

Let’s make real change. Let's show the Canadians have had enough price-gouging already. Here’s the petition. Read it. Sign it. Share it.

[1] Stop The Meter launched when we were a tiny tiny organization. Staff and resource-wise we haven’t grown much, but the number of people in the pro-Internet community has increased 40-fold since then (yes, I used a calculator); that makes a huge difference.