Yeah as a fellow Canadian, I agree. When the unlocking policy was first discussed here, people had the same fears and that people would just run off with the phones. It turns out that people generally don't like being banned from a carrier or getting the hit on their credit.

I don't see why its different than a car really. While some dealerships are adding GPS trackers nowadays, there is nothing stopping you from buying a car on credit and driving it to Mexico and hiding it in a locked garage. It's going to be very difficult to buy another car if you do that though, and that's enough of a deterrence for most people as they have to continue living their lives and eventually buy a new car.