The Angus Reid poll found that 48 per cent of Canadians believe the government shouldn't permit a merger between Vancouver-based Telus and Montreal-based BCE. Another 27 per cent supported it, while 25 per cent weren't sure.
The highest levels of opposition to such a deal came from British Columbia and Alberta at 57 per cent and 61 per cent, respectively. "What surprised us the most is the high level of skepticism from Alberta and B.C., where virtually everyone deals with Telus on a daily basis," Mr. Canseco said.
So this biggest opposition to this merger is from Telus's captive audience of ICLEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier) customers who know the company from dealing with it. The ones who until very recently had no choice but Telus, and the ones who still have to deal with them. Having seen both sides of the Telus corporate culture's attitude towards customer service this isn't even remotely surprising.
The actual customers involved have an opinion as to what kind of 'white knight' national champion is being proposed here. And their response is overwhelmingly negative.
The public that oppose this deal should be aware that the elites of the Tories and the Liberals are aching to see this happen. Harper can talk about how there will be no politics in the competition boards decision all he wants but strong signals of support have already been sent, or Telus wouldn't have gone public. Other industries, particularly banks are looking for this to be the fatal blow to the idea of the public good trumping the interests of corporate monopolies.
It's going to happen unless the public rises up in revulsion against the idea.
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