Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Congratulations to Mr. Turnbull on the birth of his new child, and my condolences to the New Democratic Party and everyone across political lines who appreciates the massive contributions Mr. Broadbent made to our country.
This week, like probably some of you, I went grocery shopping. My wife sent me out late at night to buy a bunch of fruit for our kids. School started this week in British Columbia. No, it was last week, and.... No, it was this week. Man, all the days are running together. School started this week.
I was going to buy all of the stuff for their lunches and everything, and at the front of the Real Canadian Superstore on Gladwin Road in Abbotsford, they were selling little cartons of blueberries for six dollars. Where I come from, we're the blueberry capital of Canada. We literally produce more blueberries and process more blueberries than practically anywhere else in North America, yet for literally a handful of blueberries, the grocery stores are charging six dollars. That does not relate to the motion at hand, but it does relate to the cost of living crisis that Canadians are facing. I've spoken to a number of people at local food banks over the Christmas break and with constituents in some of those coffee chats that my colleague Michelle mentioned, and it's very clear that Canadians are struggling.
Some kids who go to my son's school, Centennial Park Elementary School in Abbotsford, rely on the food bank for lunch every week. If Rogers decides to increase a parent's bill by nine dollars or $10 a month, it doesn't seem like much, but these parents are already spending more than they're making every month just to support their kids. That's very common these days. Yes, nine dollars or $10 for a family struggling to get by does make a difference.
This is also important because on January 25, 2023, the CEO of Rogers, Mr. Staffieri, came to this committee. He made it very clear in his testimony that this deal, especially for British Columbia and Alberta, would “inject 'a new and substantial source of competition'”.
Competition usually means to me that we're going to see some type of price decrease because there are going to be more players in the market. We didn't see that. Now we're seeing that anyone who has a Rogers cellphone that's not on contract will see their monthly bill go up. I think that's contrary to the testimony that Mr. Staffieri shared with our committee. He outlined two principal ways that this deal was going to be good. The second one that he outlined was that Rogers would “become a stronger, more formidable wireline competitor in western Canada.“ He outlined that “Rogers' cable footprint” would expand to other parts of western Canada that it doesn't actually reach right now. He outlined that there would be a $6.5-billion investment to improve connectivity in the very remote and rural indigenous communities that I represent.
If his first major action since this deal was approved is to increase prices, I've lost a lot of faith in what Rogers is actually telling consumers, what it's telling us as parliamentarians and what it's telling Canadians about its role in addressing the affordability crisis that all of us know is impacting the people we represent.
I do, obviously, support this motion because Canadians want to know that we're doing everything in our legislative power—that's why we called this meeting—to address the things that they're staying up late at night about, such as how they're going to pay their bills right now. Canadians can't pay their bills. We have to fight for Canadians, so we can hold this meeting and we can hold Rogers' Mr. Staffieri to account about what he shared with us last year, especially as it relates to British Columbia and Alberta, where he said that there would be more competition because of this deal.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.