[Gunner24]

I can only imagine the OP's outrage if the United States government decided to go strictly to iPhones due to the nationalistic reasons outlined in the original post. The double standard is hilarious really.

"Strictly to iPhones because of nationalistic reasons"

That's not what was said. Read the whole post.

"The representatives of the Canadian government are ditching a Canadian product for a foreign product that is more expensive, less secure and carries no discernible productivity benefit for MPs and the taxpayers that pay for them."

In your example it would read "The representatives of the US Government are ditching a foreign product for an American product that is more expensive, less secure and carries no discernable productivity benefit for Congressmen and the taxpayers that pay for them"

WAKE UP. Read the whole post before commenting. The fact they are a Canadian company merely adds insult to injury - other reasons were listed. Do you have a physical limitation that does not allow you to read an entire post with additional symptoms including Ill-thought-out responses?

I wish they would just boot people like you off the forums who clearly don't read the whole post and just troll around posting ill-thought out comments.

[felixweber]

Germany just did the opposite.
Maybe Canadian MPS don't read newspapers regularly :P

Posted via CB10

[BBRYed]

Last week it was revealed that the Canadian government was planning to allow MPs and their staff to choose iPhones to conduct their government business as opposed to the BlackBerry-only mobile strategy that was in place before (MPs will soon have choice between iPhone and BlackBerry - Politics - CBC News). This is outrageous for the following reasons:

1. BlackBerry is a Canadian company that employs thousands of its employees in Canada, contributes billions to the country through taxes and investment and the majority of its shareholders are Canadian citizens and taxpayers.
2. BlackBerry is a Canadian company and part of the role of Members of Parliament is to represent their country and its industries overseas. This should include using Canadian products wherever and whenever prudent to do so.
3. The Canadian Government owes a special "duty of care" to BlackBerry as its survival is important to the national security of the country and her allies. This is especially evident as the Canadian government turned down takeover overtures from Chinese-owed Lenovo. If you are not going to let foreign entities invest in the company you have a duty to support the company yourself.
4. There is no practical or logical reason for having the Canadian government purchasing iPhones for MPs and their staff. BlackBerry10 devices are fully capable and efficient of carry out the business of the government. If an MP wants to FaceTime his girlfriend or play Temple Run during committee hearings he is perfectly capable of using some of his $100K+ salary to purchase an iPhone for his own personal use.
5. SECURITY!!! Not only is their no logical reason to purchase iPhones for MPs and their staff, it is actually a disaster! BlackBerries running on BES can claim to have the Gold Standard in security as it integrates server, software and hardware encryption. It is the full-service turn key solution employed by other governments, major banks and the defence industry. It is the only phone the President of the United States is allowed to use. With details of military procurement and trade deal negotiations being discussed by MPs, why are we risking exposing these discussions to the massive NSA surveillance or Chinese espionage activities just so an MP can have the trendiest phone at the local high school?
6. $$$. Deploying more than one type of operating system will be more expensive and less efficient - period. It requires additional tech support from staff and will be more difficult to transfer and sync information across devices. That is why the largest corporations always go with one supplier for computers, phones etc. Additionally, iPhones will likely cost the government in the neighborhood of twice as much as the BlackBerry equivalent Z10 to purchase. This amounts to a huge waste of taxpayers money and a moral indignation that should outrage all Canadians!

What can you do about it? First, send a quick email to your MP letting them know how upset this makes you. A list of MPs and their contact info can be found here: Find your Member of Parliament using your Postal Code

Send an email to John Duncan - Government whip and a spokesman for internal economy board that made the decision: PARLINFO - Parliamentarian File - Contact Information - DUNCAN, The Hon. John , P.C., B.Sc.F.

Send an email to Prime Minister Harper: PARLINFO - Parliamentarian File - Contact Information - HARPER, The Right Hon. Stephen, P.C., B.A., M.A.

and the Leader of the Opposition: PARLINFO - Parliamentarian File - Contact Information - MULCAIR, The Hon. Thomas J., P.C., B.C.L, LL.B.

and the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada: PARLINFO - Parliamentarian File - Contact Information - TRUDEAU, Justin, B.A., B.Ed.

Thank you very much CrackBerry community! Just like we pressured Rogers to reverse the Z30 decision, lets win this battle as well.

In reply to number 1 and 2. It's irrelevant. Do you only buy Canadian goods and brands? No.

Do you think Americans went out to buy American cars as the industry collapsed, to "save them?"

The Canadian company that you speak of, BlackBerry, yesterday announced that they will no longer design phones for consumers in Canada and U.S. The BlackBerry North America designer will only design for enterprise for the foreseeable future.

Canada owes BlackBerry nothing and they don't owe us anything either. Business is business.



Poetry in Motion

[BigBadWulf]

[WARN]I don't want to see one more personally directed post in this thread.

NOT ONE!!![/WARN]

[R Field]

[WARN]I don't want to see one more personally directed post in this thread.

NOT ONE!!![/WARN]

Is it supposed to show up like this or is that just another Cb10 bug?

BlackBerry Z30 | 10.2.1.1055 | BBM Channel C0006E212

[LazyEvul]

Everyone in support of this decision seems to be avoiding a key problem: the iPhone 5S (and even the 5C I believe) costs more than any BlackBerry 10 product sold today. The 4S has comparable pricing, but I doubt the government is going to limit MPs to choosing the oldest iPhone on sale.

So, forget patriotism, forget security, just answer this: what is the government's justification for using a more expensive option when there is no significant benefit, if any? This is public money we're talking about here, and considering that we're already in a deficit, the government should be avoiding excess every chance they get.

Posted via CB10

[Gunner24]

But LaxyEvul, to understand that you would have to read the ENTIRE post!!! And also use critical thinking! And also not be a iClone using both an iPhone and iPad visiting the CrackBerry forums simply to troll other people's comments!

We can't ask that much of people!

Posted from my Q10 on the West Coast

[Roo Zilla]

Once the government steps in and demands only Canadian made goods for government employees, that will only entice other governments to pass retaliatory measures. As far as I know, the US government is BlackBerry's single largest customer, several times larger than the Canadian government. Canada's entire population's about as big as California. What happens if in retaliation, the US government demands only US goods used by US gov personnel? Don't you think it would be much better to just keep shut and not risk losing their biggest customer?

[Gunner24]

Once the government steps in and demands only Canadian made goods for government employees, that will only entice other governments to pass retaliatory measures. As far as I know, the US government is BlackBerry's single largest customer, several times larger than the Canadian government. Canada's entire population's about as big as California. What happens if in retaliation, the US government demands only US goods used by US gov personnel? Don't you think it would be much better to just keep shut and not risk losing their biggest customer?

I can say with 100% certainty that if the Canadian government maintained their BlackBerry-Exclusive BES strategy they have employed for the past 8 years, without issue, the Americans wouldn't bat an eye.

Now, however, the Americans are likely confused as to why the company's strongest and assumed most-loyal customer is now moving away from them while other governments, like Germany, are embracing BlackBerry10 wholeheartedly.

Posted from my Q10 on the West Coast

[Roo Zilla]

I can say with 100% certainty that if the Canadian government maintained their BlackBerry-Exclusive BES strategy they have employed for the past 8 years, without issue, the Americans wouldn't bat an eye.

Do you work in government procurement? Perhaps some US lobbyists had issue with the Canadian policy and requested that it be changed. Perhaps that's the reason it is being changed. Do you know why the TSA installed those body scanners? The ones that were removed after the public outcry? Michael Chertoff, former head of Homeland Security, and head of namesake Chertoff group lobbies for a company called Rapiscan. Guess what Rapiscan makes? You'd be surprised how influential lobbyists are in government purchases.

[Karan Mohal]

Email sent. I did state in my opening line that I was a resident in my MPs riding.. so far only an auto-reply.. ( sent email same day OP created thread)

Posted via CB10

[Karan Mohal]

I gotta agree with gunner24- Americans are not going to care one iota about Canadian gov using BlackBerry only- consider the population of one of your states is equal to that of our entire country.. what our limited parliamentary staff use as cellphones doesn't impact Americans at all.

Posted via CB10

[xBURK]

When talking about governments using phones, nationalism should be thrown out the door for security. BlackBerry has already proven they're the best at this. Until otherwise, that's just the way it is. Now, do I want BlackBerry to succeed because I'm a proud Canadian? Of course. Canadians are critisised for being too polite to show their true pride. Not me.... Plus, anyone saying that BlackBerry is not truly Canadian today...you need to read the history of the company. Last I checked, if you were born or created in a country.....you stay that way.....even if you spread your wings to include the world. I think of Apple as an American company. America should be proud of that even though most of their products are not produced in their great country.

Posted via CB10

[needforbbx]

Financially the move probably does not mean much, but in terms of optics not great. It's the Federal and Provincial Government that originally seeded BB. It government/taxpayer R&D incentives that helped BB grow and become a key anchor in the KW area.

I suspect the main reason here for the change is that they recognize that people carry iPhones and they want to ensure secure communications on all devices.

As per what other governments do, all governments support national champions.

[AlexB1227]

I'd rather they use a cheaper Android device. This way it won't cost more for taxpayers as it would if they bought BB10 devices, and at the same time the government employee can be more productive.

Best of both worlds.

Andriod device's are cheaper, yes, but they dont have CLOSE to the same capabilities that a BlackBerry device does


Posted via CB10

[RubberChicken76]

Andriod device's are cheaper, yes, but they dont have CLOSE to the same capabilities that a BlackBerry device does

That's pretty subjective, but let's forget that debate for a second: the federal government will lock down any issued device substantially. BlackBerry OS devices in the government can do far, far, far, far, far less than the ones people on CrackBerry have because they are blocked by IT policies all over the place.

[RubberChicken76]

It's the same reason if I asked you what advantage does BlackBerry have over iOS, and the answer is the same. There is none.

It certainly did to me, when I was on the road and my crappy iPhone 4S battery died and I couldn't pop out one battery and pop in another. :-) Or when it ran out of space and I couldn't off-load to an SD card.

they all have strengths and weaknesses dude!

[kazakoshi]

What I would like to know is the reasons for the changes.
Majority of people agree that BlackBerry is the best in security. So obviously that's not it.
Maybe some work related apps they can't get for bb? But they've been using BlackBerry for years without those apps, so probably not that.
Is iPhone cheaper? I doubt it.
Unless they can tell me the advantages of using iPhone for WORK over BlackBerry, I would want our government to support BlackBerry.
IMO, Canadian government should support Canadian companies whenever possible, specially it comes to using considerable amount of tax payers money. I said whenever possible. If using foreign companies give them better options, then so be it.
In this case, I can't see the advantages clearly considering security has to be the most important concerns over mobile communication in any government organizations.
Please don't tell me that our MP & support staff want iPhones, so they can use itune or whatever on their off time.
Choices are good but it's not BYOD, it's tax payer paid phone for work we are talking about . I'm sure everybody wants their employers to supply whichever phones you like.




Posted via CB10

[travaz]

If they are all good loyal, patriotic Canadians' then they will choose BB. If not you have the power of the ballot box.

[JuiciPatties]

so has anyone heard back from their MP? or from anyone else that they may have emailed?

enquiring minds want to know

[Gunner24]

so has anyone heard back from their MP? or from anyone else that they may have emailed?

enquiring minds want to know

They are all on "Christmas/New Years Break" I imagine. Hopefully next week.

Posted from my Q10 on the West Coast

[GooberNS]

so has anyone heard back from their MP? or from anyone else that they may have emailed?

enquiring minds want to know

I got an email from my MP's secretary saying it will be answered sometime...

Posted via CB10

[ElGusta]

There is no reason for canadian govt workers to have bb10s or iphones in the first place. Big waste of money.

All they should be provided with is a device with basic functionality: calling/texting/email/calendar.

Give them all 9320s and call it a day.

[JuiciPatties]

There is no reason for canadian govt workers to have bb10s or iphones in the first place. Big waste of money.

All they should be provided with is a device with basic functionality: calling/texting/email/calendar.

Give them all 9320s and call it a day.

Ha ha ... well, why stop there, we should go all the way back to pre-8700 devices. Perhaps the 8700 is a nice compromise then.

[RubberChicken76]

so has anyone heard back from their MP? or from anyone else that they may have emailed?

enquiring minds want to know

Nothing

Posted via CB10