Hello Honourable Bryon Wilfert,
I just came back from vacation on a 3 week tour of the Far East, including countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. As a professional in the high-technology industry, I noticed that telecommunication technologies available to the common consumer at these countries are far superior to those offerings that are available here in Canada.
As an example, a local calling cellphone plan for 880 minutes just cost $88 HKD in Hong Kong. That’s less than $12 CAD (using exchange rates on Oct. 4, 2010). This is a pre-paid commitment free plan. Calling back to Canada cost less than $0.03 CAD per minute. People in South Korea has enough bandwidth to watch TV on the subway. Time and time again, I see these examples throughout my travels. Of course, I am envious of these observations, and would love Canadians to experience and have access to this scale of information freedom. Yesterday on October 3rd, I am reminded of yet another horrible experience dealing with one of our major Internet Providers here in Canada, and felt compelled to write to you, so that I can bring your attention to the disparity that we face with these countries.
If you are not aware already, organizations such as SaveOurNet.ca does an excellent job in communicating the issues at hand. A good summary video can also be found here: http://bit.ly/4G3e3T Thank you for your time and attention, and I hope that you can objectively represent our global position on this matter.
Kang Lu