The Globe and Mail’s Jack Kapica wrote a piece on Rogers data rates and the problems these pose in relation to bringing the iPhone to Canada. Take special note of the insulting comment from Rogers’ communications flack, who managed to both be inappropriately aggressive AND completely avoid the point of Kapica’s article. I wonder if mobile carriers – particularly those in Canada – will ever get it? Not only are they gouging their customers, but they’re leaving a ton of money on the table by completely underestimating the demand for wireless data in Canada.
Today was by-election day
in three Quebec ridings, and it has proven to be as exciting as politics in Quebec have tended to be in recent years. It’s hard to see what has been happening both federally and provincially as nothing less than a sea-change, not a temporary post-scandal correction as many (including myself) feared it might have been.
The results are interesting. In my new riding, Outremont, the winner was Thomas Mulcair of the NDP (and the former provincial environment minister for the Quebec Liberal Party). In Roberval-Lac-Saint-Jean, the winner was Denis Lebel, a Conservative (and sitting Mayor). In Sainte-Hyacinthe, the winner was Ève-Mary Thai Thi Lac for the Bloc Quebecois. Most striking is that none of the Liberal candidates were successful, even now that the scandals are behind them and despite (well, maybe) having a new leader.
Some bullet-point reactions:
- The NDP have to be careful how they interpret their victory in Outremont. If they have any illusions that this is a vote of confidence in the party as a whole or in Jack Layton, I think they’re sorely mistaken. On the positive side of things, Mulcair, and Mulcair alone, is the reason for their victory. If anything he has such personal popularity and universal respect that he won in spite of how the NDP is viewed in Quebec.
- It is pretty shocking to “traditional” interpretations of Quebec voting tendencies that neither of the MPs in the Saguenay region are sitting for the Bloc Quebecois.
- Stéphane Dion must be – should be – pretty scared. For the party with the second most seats in Parliament to not win any of three by-elections? Not a comfortable spot for the leader. When he was selected as leader of the Liberal Party, I was cautiously optimistic that he could do a decent job – certainly better than Ignatieff – but so far, it has been nothing but setback after setback. He’ll probably stick it out until the next General Election, but it looks like he’s already finished.
- Back to the NDP, after years and years of living in Montreal but never having any hope of my candidate winning, I’m kind of amazed that someone has done it. Again, though, if the NDP over-estimate the significance of this victory they’re going to be in trouble. I’ve almost only ever voted NDP, but party had pretty much lost me as a supporter over the past two or three years. The NDP’s foreign policy is nothing more than naive and pandering, and the fact that they have done nothing to truly address their chronic problems in Quebec is more than frustrating – at this point it smacks of a mix of disrespect and fear. I hope they can get over it – and the first step would be a radical re-thinking of their traditional (and idiotic) strong-centralist federalism. It does them no good and a lot of harm.
From Torontoist:
Bon Cop, Bad Cop. A great video showing some, ahem, experienced protest leaders strongly suggesting that some supposed fellow protesters drop their rocks and cease being violent… until they figure out that the “protesters” in question are most likely police provocateurs trying to rile things up and create a riot. There isn’t any firm evidence at this point that the three “bad guys” were really cops, but check out the video – it’s pretty clear that they were when you see the pathetic “takedown” performed by the uniformed police once the ruse was up.
Personally I’m not surprised – I’ve been a witness to a couple of “riots” in my day and every single time the police were the aggressors.
Thomas Purves has posted
a comparison of mobile data pricing in Canada and elsewhere in the world, and demonstrates that Canadian rates are by far the highest anywhere. The only *possible* light at the end of the tunnel is that if Rogers does bring in the Apple iPhone, then they’re going to have to do something to address the fact that the iPhone is designed for a pretty high level of network access, or so it seems. With any luck – but I’m not holding my breath – this will benefit Canadian customers across the board.
File sharing and the Canadian
music scene: New paradigm opened market to new music. The Toronto Star’s Christopher Hutsul on the real center of new music in Canada. “After last’s week’s Junos, it dawned on me that the only real threat to music in Canada is the ongoing glorification of pablum over art.” I think Hutsul overstates the impact of non-official downloads, but his comments on the overall environmental change in the music biz are right on the money.
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