Hacker News Reader

Comment by epgui | Hacker News Reader

These companies have an oligopoly, they don’t “run Canada” by any stretch of the imagination and even by the most charitable of interpretations.

View on HN

They control the media and you only hear or get their sanctioned perspective. They can sway public opinion in any direction they want. Ultimately those who control the message control the narrative. They could destroy anyone then want, even the Prime Minister.

Disclaimer: Not a conspiracy nut.

I love to hate all these companies, but no, they don't control the media. I would challenge that disclaimer.

Why do you think ChumpGPT is a “conspiracy nut”?

In a more respectful way he's probably getting at the fact that while the telecoms control a significant proportion of TV and radio there's still the CBC (owned by the government at arm's length, theoretically) and print media, which is arguably more important, that's independent.

Interestingly different from the US I would say the vast majority of Canadians I knew (including my elderly parents) get their Canadian political news from print media rather than TV (acknowledging that biases towards people who attended university and live in cities) which is more for local news if anything. Canadian TV channels are very underwhelming and have no where near the relevance of CNN or Fox News to US society. I would even modestly wager that CNN has a larger Canadian viewership than Canadian news channels.

I expect a significant amount also get it from radio which from what I recall are mostly telecom owned.

Look up the Thompson family and you will be surprised how much media one family can control.

I think he is exaggerating the internet speed and competition issues that seem to be more prevalent in Canada. I don't know if this is true anymore but a friend told me many plans have upload caps?

That part is not an exaggeration. We don't have unlimited data plans for mobile AFAIK. Anecdotally, I pay around 90$ for somewhere between 6 or 10 GB per month, and I pay extra for long distance calls. I pay through the nose for international calls (sometimes when I have to make 20-60 minutes' worth of calls to the US my monthly bill goes up to 150$). An internet connection at home (fiber op) costs 120$/month for 1.5 gbps.

But it's hard to see how that relates to "running the country".

That's a pretty crappy cell phone deal unless you're somewhere really remote. Rogers offers 75GB @ 5G and unlimited throttled with Canada-wide long distance and North America roaming for $90.

I've kept my Canadian # for posterity and I'm on a legacy plan for $50 that gets me 15GB and US-Can voice so you can definitely get cheaper ones through retention (the only way to get a good deal on wireless in Canada).

> But it's hard to see how that relates to "running the country".

Agree that's a bit much, they basically rule the CRTC (telecom regulator) which has never made an adverse decision against them to my recollection. The running joke was they had regulatory meeting at the National Golf Club in Toronto.

They do own a fair proportion of TV & radio outlets and political influence but I wouldn't call it running the country.

I haven't had time to shop around in a number of years, so I probably don't have the most competitive deal. I've carried this cell phone plan since around 2014-2015.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com