6 ms·

Yep. Allowing Rogers to purchase Shaw was absurd. The Commissioner of Competition was very strongly opposed to the merger, the court ruled against him, and Ca

by lm411 2y ago

Yep. Allowing Rogers to purchase Shaw was absurd. The Commissioner of Competition was very strongly opposed to the merger, the court ruled against him, and Canadians had to pay Rogers $13 million CAD because he opposed it. I was a Shaw Mobile (not Freedom) customer, and Rogers wanted me to drive 600km (both ways) through the Kootenay mountains in winter to get my new SIM cards. I told them where to go. Rogers is junk and Canada is an oligarchy.

nikolajan 2y ago
What made Canada special died decades ago, were it not for the strict visa process I would be living in the states (Vermont) right now, with a significantly higher salary (as a principal engineer), a lower income tax, healthier housing market, lower cost of living, and better quality of life.
- snapplebobapple 2y ago
  Canada used to say our healthcare was better but that hasnt been true for atleast a decade. Its more choose your version of crappy. Do you want to oay with your life savings (usa) or your life (canada)
  - lm411 2y ago
    I (born and raised Canadian) moved my family to Canada 5 years ago. We've been on a waiting list for a doctor ever since. My only option to see a doctor here is to go the emergency room at the closest hospital.
    - snapplebobapple 2y ago
      Yah you are paying with your life. Its shockingly stupid because there are lots of good examples to oick and choose from how to do a public payor system correctly (singapore does it best imo but nordics and france are options for examples of better tham here just not best)
    - nubinetwork 2y ago
      If it makes you feel any better, I've been in the healthcare IT field for 20 years. I tried to stay away from the doctors office as much as possible. Last year I started feeling exhausted 24/7 and tried to make an appointment, but got turned away from my doctors office because my doctor retired and the new guy didn't want to let me make an appointment. So here I am on a waiting list, in a city where 10% of the population don't have a doctor either. I've been waiting for over a year. I wish I could change fields, "once you've seen how the sausage is made, you'll want to be a vegetarian"...
  - swader999 2y ago
    Yes. Waited 18 months for a 15 minute cateract surgery that I needed 18 months ago. Should have had my license taken away this past year they were so bad.
- jszymborski 2y ago
  What makes Canada strong is its people, whom I love very much. I wish our gov't served us better, and I try my best to enact change, but it's a fool who thinks any country is without its faults.
  - lm411 2y ago
    I love Canadians. And Americans. And I've lived in a few different countries in my life. No country is without faults, but, Canada right now is a mess.
- lm411 2y ago
  Funny thing, I lived outside of Canada for many years though I am Canadian born and raised. I moved my family back for a "better quality of life". Jokes on me. ;) I love the land and the people, but, the country itself is a mess. We have already planned our exit.
  - swader999 2y ago
    Where too? It's crossing my mind more and more lately.
- ThePowerOfFuet 2y ago
  >were it not for the strict visa process I would be living in the states (Vermont) right now, with a significantly higher salary (as a principal engineer), a lower income tax, healthier housing market, lower cost of living, and better quality of life. Western Europe has all those things, is actually welcoming, has sane healthcare, and you don't even need to own a gun!
  - nikolajan 2y ago
    It doesn't have the salary, eng salaries are significant deflated in Europe when compared to North America
    - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
      Outside of tech it's not too different. Tech pay isn't even bad, it just doesn't exhibit the massively inflated salaries of the US. Software is an easier, less professional job than most professional fields, it doesn't make sense for it to command preposterous sums. Though American devs don't like having this fact pointed out to them.
      - nikolajan 2y ago
        > Software is an easier, less professional job Are you in software development?
        HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
        Yes, why? Coming from a family of actual engineers, I call myself a developer. Software workers haven't earned the title engineer.
        hyperman1 2y ago
        TBH I call myself and most software devs an engineer. It gives us something to aspire to.
  - 2y ago
cperciva 2y ago
Shaw didn't have enough capital to continue operating, and foreign ownership restrictions prevented them from raising more. The government decided that Rogers buying Shaw was a better outcome than Shaw going out of business, which is a position I'm inclined to agree with. I was a Shaw Mobile (not Freedom) customer, and Rogers wanted me to drive 600km (both ways) through the Kootenay mountains in winter to get my new SIM cards. Weird. They mailed my new SIM cards to me.
- dmix 2y ago
  > Weird. They mailed my new SIM cards to me. Rogers support is pretty notorious country wide, I'm sure it still varies at a localized level. I had a Rogers internet install technician come to my house (for Teksavvy because the gov mandates they run the networks for small operators) and instead of drilling a hole through a wall he opened a window a crack ran the cable through and went home. The girl on the phone couldn't believe my story but I'm sure nothing happened in terms of punishment. This is the outcome of artificial barriers to competition in the name of national benefit. It doesn't matter how absurd your customer story, neither customers nor the upstart businesses have a choice.
- voisin 2y ago
  > Shaw didn't have enough capital to continue operating, and foreign ownership restrictions prevented them from raising more. The government decided that Rogers buying Shaw was a better outcome than Shaw going out of business They could also have just eliminated our archaic foreign ownership laws. I am surprised this hasn’t come up in trade negotiations. If we want improved productivity then we desperately need competition. If we don’t get serious about this then we’ll continue to languish economically as a nation.
  - cperciva 2y ago
    Right, that would have been my preferred solution. But for unfortunately that's not something the current government is inclined to consider.
- lm411 2y ago
voisin 2y ago
Small world - I live in the Kootenays. I am guessing you are in Nelson only because it seems to be 600km from everything :-)
- lm411 2y ago
  Close enough though a bit more in the boonies. They wanted me to drive to the Rogers store in Cranbrook or Kelowna.
  - voisin 2y ago
    Well next time you are in Cranbrook feel free to drop me a note if you want to grab a coffee or beer. My contact is in my profile.
    - lm411 2y ago
      Sounds good! I'm usually in Cranbrook a couple times a year.
- grecy 2y ago
  Huh, very small world. Me too :)
  - voisin 2y ago
    I’m in Cranbrook. Perhaps we need to establish the smaller HN IRL meetup :-)
    - grecy 2y ago
      Nelson has a "tech people meetup" pretty often. https://www.facebook.com/groups/kootenayworkers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/kootenayworkers/
      - cf100clunk 2y ago
        On Facebook? What irony.

by lm411 2y ago

nikolajan 2y ago

What made Canada special died decades ago, were it not for the strict visa process I would be living in the states (Vermont) right now, with a significantly higher salary (as a principal engineer), a lower income tax, healthier housing market, lower cost of living, and better quality of life.

snapplebobapple 2y ago
Canada used to say our healthcare was better but that hasnt been true for atleast a decade. Its more choose your version of crappy. Do you want to oay with your life savings (usa) or your life (canada)
- lm411 2y ago
  I (born and raised Canadian) moved my family to Canada 5 years ago. We've been on a waiting list for a doctor ever since. My only option to see a doctor here is to go the emergency room at the closest hospital.
  - snapplebobapple 2y ago
    Yah you are paying with your life. Its shockingly stupid because there are lots of good examples to oick and choose from how to do a public payor system correctly (singapore does it best imo but nordics and france are options for examples of better tham here just not best)
  - nubinetwork 2y ago
    If it makes you feel any better, I've been in the healthcare IT field for 20 years. I tried to stay away from the doctors office as much as possible. Last year I started feeling exhausted 24/7 and tried to make an appointment, but got turned away from my doctors office because my doctor retired and the new guy didn't want to let me make an appointment. So here I am on a waiting list, in a city where 10% of the population don't have a doctor either. I've been waiting for over a year. I wish I could change fields, "once you've seen how the sausage is made, you'll want to be a vegetarian"...
- swader999 2y ago
  Yes. Waited 18 months for a 15 minute cateract surgery that I needed 18 months ago. Should have had my license taken away this past year they were so bad.
jszymborski 2y ago
What makes Canada strong is its people, whom I love very much. I wish our gov't served us better, and I try my best to enact change, but it's a fool who thinks any country is without its faults.
- lm411 2y ago
  I love Canadians. And Americans. And I've lived in a few different countries in my life. No country is without faults, but, Canada right now is a mess.
lm411 2y ago
Funny thing, I lived outside of Canada for many years though I am Canadian born and raised. I moved my family back for a "better quality of life". Jokes on me. ;) I love the land and the people, but, the country itself is a mess. We have already planned our exit.
- swader999 2y ago
  Where too? It's crossing my mind more and more lately.
ThePowerOfFuet 2y ago
>were it not for the strict visa process I would be living in the states (Vermont) right now, with a significantly higher salary (as a principal engineer), a lower income tax, healthier housing market, lower cost of living, and better quality of life. Western Europe has all those things, is actually welcoming, has sane healthcare, and you don't even need to own a gun!
- nikolajan 2y ago
  It doesn't have the salary, eng salaries are significant deflated in Europe when compared to North America
  - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
    Outside of tech it's not too different. Tech pay isn't even bad, it just doesn't exhibit the massively inflated salaries of the US. Software is an easier, less professional job than most professional fields, it doesn't make sense for it to command preposterous sums. Though American devs don't like having this fact pointed out to them.
    - nikolajan 2y ago
      > Software is an easier, less professional job Are you in software development?
      - HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
        Yes, why? Coming from a family of actual engineers, I call myself a developer. Software workers haven't earned the title engineer.
        hyperman1 2y ago
        TBH I call myself and most software devs an engineer. It gives us something to aspire to.
- 2y ago

cperciva 2y ago

Shaw didn't have enough capital to continue operating, and foreign ownership restrictions prevented them from raising more. The government decided that Rogers buying Shaw was a better outcome than Shaw going out of business, which is a position I'm inclined to agree with. I was a Shaw Mobile (not Freedom) customer, and Rogers wanted me to drive 600km (both ways) through the Kootenay mountains in winter to get my new SIM cards. Weird. They mailed my new SIM cards to me.

dmix 2y ago
> Weird. They mailed my new SIM cards to me. Rogers support is pretty notorious country wide, I'm sure it still varies at a localized level. I had a Rogers internet install technician come to my house (for Teksavvy because the gov mandates they run the networks for small operators) and instead of drilling a hole through a wall he opened a window a crack ran the cable through and went home. The girl on the phone couldn't believe my story but I'm sure nothing happened in terms of punishment. This is the outcome of artificial barriers to competition in the name of national benefit. It doesn't matter how absurd your customer story, neither customers nor the upstart businesses have a choice.
voisin 2y ago
> Shaw didn't have enough capital to continue operating, and foreign ownership restrictions prevented them from raising more. The government decided that Rogers buying Shaw was a better outcome than Shaw going out of business They could also have just eliminated our archaic foreign ownership laws. I am surprised this hasn’t come up in trade negotiations. If we want improved productivity then we desperately need competition. If we don’t get serious about this then we’ll continue to languish economically as a nation.
- cperciva 2y ago
  Right, that would have been my preferred solution. But for unfortunately that's not something the current government is inclined to consider.
lm411 2y ago

voisin 2y ago

Small world - I live in the Kootenays. I am guessing you are in Nelson only because it seems to be 600km from everything :-)

lm411 2y ago
Close enough though a bit more in the boonies. They wanted me to drive to the Rogers store in Cranbrook or Kelowna.
- voisin 2y ago
  Well next time you are in Cranbrook feel free to drop me a note if you want to grab a coffee or beer. My contact is in my profile.
  - lm411 2y ago
    Sounds good! I'm usually in Cranbrook a couple times a year.
grecy 2y ago
Huh, very small world. Me too :)
- voisin 2y ago
  I’m in Cranbrook. Perhaps we need to establish the smaller HN IRL meetup :-)
  - grecy 2y ago
    Nelson has a "tech people meetup" pretty often. https://www.facebook.com/groups/kootenayworkers/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/kootenayworkers/
    - cf100clunk 2y ago
      On Facebook? What irony.