Tough economic times mean tightening belts. Governments are scaling back financial commitments and consumers are holding back unnecessary purchases. Even kids are having their allowances cut.

Of course, these are all boilerplate cliches. In real life, human nature compels us not to miss out on a great deal — something the marketing industry will continue to reap rewards with, and the advertising industry will happily tag along (I should know, I used to be an adman in my pre-Canadian career-gifted life.) But I digress.

As with most ill-informed laymen, I often mistake my familiarity with something to be knowledge.

However, unlike those poor ill-informed sods, I do have the honour and privilege of personally getting some of the most brilliant first-hand insights and informed opinion on these financial crisis.

As blogged earlier, it’s no secret that Canada has one of the most expensive mobile / wireless / data services for a country of its economic class, if not the entire world. I attribute this sad fact to what I’ve begun calling The Great Canadian Telecom Cartel.

As my Canadian experience grows with each passing day, I am becoming more and more aware of how expensive things here really are – in Ontario at least, where I live.