Manitoba Launches Consultation on Cell Phone Contracts
One Comment
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 282: Udbhav Tiwari on Why Signal May Exit Canada Over Bill C-22’s Encryption and Metadata Retention Rules 
From Making Web Giants Pay to Paying Media Giants: Budget 2026 Replaces the Government’s Internet Platform Strategy With $1.5 Billion in Taxpayer Dollars for Culture and News 
Has the Government Read Its Own Bill? What Three Days of House Debate Revealed About Bill C-34 Before the Committee Hearings Begin 
Surveillance By Design: Government Officials Say Lawful Access Could Reach Gaming Platforms, Daycares and AI Services 
Canada’s First Digital Trade Agreement: Why the Canada-EU Deal Will Likely Follow Europe’s Template and What That Means for Canadian Digital Law
Forced subsidy
While I’m not a Manitoban, I’d hope that actual stakeholders can comment on the ‘bundling’ of cell phone subsidy contracts into the plan price. This doesn’t seem to be mentioned in their paper, and in my opinion is one of the more egregious consumer violations in most contracts.
There is no incentive for the customer to continue using an old device, or bring their own device, since the monthly cost is the same whether you take the subsidy or not. This encourages people to enter contracts they don’t really need to enter and actually consider whether they want to buy a new phone or not when theirs runs out.
I have no trouble with providers subsidizing the hardware, but it should be a completely separate contract from the phone service. This would also neatly clear up cancellation issues by allowing the customer to cancel their service contract but retain the phone loan contract (or buy it out).
Other than that, the improvements they’re looking at sound good and mostly necessary. I imagine they will get good public support for their suggestions.