Conservatives blasted for 'grandstanding' on text message fees

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The Liberals are blasting the government for "grandstanding" on the new incoming text messaging charges proposed by Bell Canada Inc. and Telus Corp., saying Industry Minister Jim Prentice's criticism of the companies is half-baked and premature.

"Prentice has acted on this more like he was Opposition than government," Liberal Opposition critic Scott Brison told CBC News. "This government loves to grandstand on these types of populist issues."


So ... the conservatives called the industries naughty boys for ripping off the public and the big business Lap Dog Liberals came to the defence of a big business. How predictable.

So what should the conservatives have done ? What did the Liberals plan on doing about this ?


The Liberals plan to "monitor the situation" and will meet with Bell and Telus to discuss the matter, Brison said. Liberal consumer affairs critic Dan McTeague, however, told the Winnipeg Sun last week that the cellphone companies' moves "cries out for greater oversight."


Aha. Monitor the Situation = We aint gonna do nothing.


Brison said Prentice is in a difficult position because he promised consumers lower prices and greater competition back in November when he set the rules on a government auction of cellphone airwaves, currently in its last days. Prentice encouraged new entrants to get into the market by setting aside 40 per cent of the airwaves being sold.

Bell and Telus raising their messaging prices and maneuvering customers onto higher-priced text plans runs counter to those promises, he said.


Yeah , he tried to lower prices, but our friends in big business who pay us our salaries and help us get elected out maneuvered him. What a maroon, he should be punished just because he tried.

Needless to say , Prentice isn't impressed by all of this.

"He was unhappy with the increased choice for consumers that the spectrum auction set-aside would allow, he was unhappy with the copyright bill that balanced the rights of consumers and creators, and now he's unhappy that the government wants to ensure consumers aren't being overcharged for text messages," she said. "Our government is putting consumers first, whereas Brison and the tax-and-spend Liberals are only interested in their tax on everything."


I keep expecting this to be harder. But all the liberals are doing is playing word games while they blindly screw the consumer and support every single large corperation in any thing they care to do. It's like the Liberals arn't even trying to hide their corruption.