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Letter to the editor: Get big telecom and big banks out of our pockets

'If any of these politicians were to ask me, I would say to them, get these two interloper institutions, leaches of the Canadian people out of our back pockets. Lower our communication fees, our banking fees and get them out of our back pockets'
money

So, Trudeau has called an election two years into his minority mandate. For what?

Because his handlers and the top party bureaucrats have decided it was the prudent thing to do. Don’t kid yourself, the party bourgeoisie runs the show, irrespective of who the leader is or what his opinion on the matter might be. Just ask Anime Paul about this. Her feet were held to the fire by people who have not been elected nor do they have any intention of running for office.

So, we are going into a pandemic election. Early. Two years early. Makes me wonder why they have passed a law requiring that an election happen every four years regardless of the popularity of the governing.

So, here we go. So far, we have heard about taxing the ultra rich from the NDP. Not a bad idea. They have become successful in this country. This is a good country to become successful in. But they didn’t do it by themselves; it takes a village to raise a billionaire. If they won’t share the wealth voluntarily, they should be forced to by government mandate. Reagan-omics is dead. It was dead then, it’s dead now. Again, don’t kid yourself, trickle down is nonexistent. The wealthy of this world don’t give a rat’s arse about the plight of the ever-dwindling middle class to say nothing of the less fortunate.

The Liberals have talked about 10 dollar a day daycare. For growing families, great. Again, to coin a phrase, it takes a village to raise a child. Now the Conservatives are talking about a tax credit for those who have children in daycare. What ever works for these people is great, but I don’t fit into this box. I don’t have any children, and I am too old to start thinking about it now. That ship has long since sailed for me. Funny thing about it is, most of the people who fit into this box are young, often single, likely mothers of the children in care and most of them don’t bother to vote. So, I just don’t know who they are trying to please with this kind of proposal anyway. I would suggest the demographic is small by comparison to others.

So here’s an idea that would benefit all Canadians, rich or poor, young or old, boy or girl, mother or father, black, white, first nation, LGBTQ….or whatever the acronym is you follow.

We in Canada pay the highest rates in the G7 for our communication devices. Our phone, TV and internet providers are charging hundreds of dollars monthly for Canadians to access a network that was largely set up and constructed with taxpayer money. Heck, they recently announced they would spend billions to give Canadians in remote parts of the country access to broadband. Taxpayer money to build infrastructure for the big phone and cable companies to use, so they can charge you exceedingly high rates. Trudeau pledged that he would force these fat cats to lower our costs, but I have not seen any movement on any of this yet, from the government or the fat cats.

Our banking system is recording billion-dollar profits by the quarter on the backs of everyone who is forced by the government to deal with them.

Our banking system is highly restrictive at the top end, to protect the financial system of the country from instability. Canada is home to some of the largest banking institutions in the world. It is also protected from the instability found in other parts of the world where dubious characters operate to loose, unfettered rules, only to pad their own pocketbook. Greed of the highest order. All you need think about is the financial crash of 2008-2009. Our banks seem to have been unaffected. And yet the end users, Canadians, don’t see the benefit of these rules. Fees, paid by everyone in Canada, to get access to their own money are what are fuelling these billion-dollar quarterly profits. A dollar here, two dollars there, to use a debit card here, to withdraw a sum of cash there; with everybody doing it and not thinking for a second about it. After all, it’s only a dollar here or a dollar there. What’s the harm?

It’s your money.

Why should you have to pay the bank to get access to it. To say nothing about small business having to pay substantial sums to allow customers access to their money. These small businesses will either absorb the costs or transfer it to the customer. Again, fees for big banks to collect and redistribute to their shareholders.

So this is where I am going with this.

If any of these politicians where to ask me, I would say to them, get these two interloper institutions, leaches of the Canadian people out of our back pockets. Lower our communication fees, our banking fees and get them out of our back pockets. It can be done by the Federal Government. The CRTC, the OFCI, the FCAC and the FRFI are all institutions governed by the Federal Government. Through these institutions the Government could and should work to help Canadians keep more of their money. This would help everyone, rich, poor, young, old…well you get the idea. More money would be freed up so Canadians could spend it on whatever they like, childcare, a lunch date, a new car, (forget that last one. We are supposed to be getting away from cars) a bus pass. What ever you like.

Taxes are something they always talk about lowering. Forget that idea.

Taxes are paid by Canadians so they can see some kind of benefit for all. New hospitals, schools, roads, clean water, sewage management; a stable affluent society. Taxes paid by all fairly, help to maintain our established way of life. This is not to say that waste does not occur, I wouldn’t think of defending this practice. In fact, I am disgusted at the idea of corporate welfare. Why are we subsidizing the oil and gas industry to the tune of billions? No. Taxpayer money should not be used for this kind of activity. More to the point of my diatribe, keep more of our money for us to spend on whatever we like, by getting big telecom and big banks out of our pockets. Lower our costs for communication and eliminate unnecessary fees from banks.

That’s my soap box to all the candidates running for federal office. Get it done for all Canadians.

Andre Boileau

Nipissing Township