Canada's NDP issued the following press release on March 31, 2023:
OTTAWA — "Canadians who work hard and play by the rules should be able to get ahead. Unfortunately, under Justin Trudeau, Canadians are still paying among the most expensive cell and internet bills in the world and now, despite their conditions, Liberals just decide to make it worse by approving the Rogers-Shaw merger.
Right now, Rogers and Shaw CEOs Tony Staffieri and Bradley Shaw are popping the champagne and toasting the Liberal government for the helping hand.
Justin Trudeau and his team are showing once again that when push comes to shove, they are taking the side of the rich and powerful over the interest of working people.
Liberals ignored the independent Competition Bureau that said that the merger is expected to make our cell and internet bills more expensive.
They also decided to ignore unions that represent workers of the telecommunication industry that all recommended to stop this merger because hundreds of workers may lose their job.
In addition to higher prices and layoffs, the Rogers-Shaw merger has already led to less competition, less innovation and less choice for consumers by encouraging other big telecommunication companies to buy smaller players.
Canadians needed lower cell and internet bills, not higher prices. We needed more good jobs, not layoffs. Canada needed more competition, not less.
The approval of this merger shows once again why we need a strong reform of our competition laws, a price cap to lower the bills of Canadians and more measures to bring competition.
We will keep on fighting for actions to bring the cost of your bills down, not fighting to get CEOs even richer like the Liberals do."
Jagmeet joined Toronto-Danforth NDP candidate Clare Hacksel to demand a Renters Protection Fund to protect tenants and keep existing affordable housing in our communities.
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Jagmeet joined Toronto-Danforth NDP candidate Clare Hacksel and NDP MP Matthew Green to speak about the implementation of the NDP national dental care program.