Subscribe Now to Live in Canada! Imagining a Dystopian Privatized Future
Water fountain fees, Blackrock, and the costly possibility of our society’s future
I swiped my card to enter the mall, the 50 cent toll to enter the fancy new complex deducting from my credit card. It was cheaper than taking my car, since I would have passed three privatized roads with their tolls. There was also the fact that I did not want to renew my tech subscription for the electric car I purchased last year, meaning I couldn’t use the navigation system anymore.
I just needed a new frying pan. Entering Canadian Tire, I looked at the options. There was a subscription plan for most frying pans now. Or I could pay an extra fee to buy the more durable one. My phone dinged, air tax payment due tomorrow. Oh yeah, we had to pay a monthly fee for the clean air filtration system our city bought from Blackrock.
Before leaving the mall I decided to get a drink of water from the nearby fountain. I looked down at the metal frame and the plaque above it, “Property of Blackrock Aquaworks Co.,” it read. I swiped my credit card again on the pay machine next to it; one dollar for fountain water. I let the tap run as I gulped as much as possible from the spout before heading to the bus stop.
I got home on the bus, passing all of the parks I no longer frequented because of the entrance fees. All of the condos people used to own in the area had been bought by large investment firms, and now it was not uncommon to see roommates sharing a one-bedroom.
My phone dinged again, subscription to the public health network appointment maker expiring next week. The only way to make an appointment in advance was to use the appointment maker, not that it made our free healthcare any better. I would still wait six weeks to see a doctor.
Since the 2027 election, our government had largely sold out to the highest bidder. As public infrastructure crumbled, skilled workers left for better pay in other countries, and austerity measures continued to cut funding for everything from education to healthcare, the government’s solution was to privatize everything they could.
In came the willing and ready corporations. We used to only pay subscriptions for fun stuff like television and our favourite media platforms, and for useful things like digital security. Now we paid to breathe.
We didn’t push back enough. And now here we were.
People no longer applied for citizenship in Canada, they applied to subscribe. Could they afford the monthly fees that they had added to our taxes? If you could afford the tiny fees for everything that added up to hundreds of dollars a month, you could afford to live in Canada.
The Commodification and “Subscribification” of Society
We take for granted that anything we do or consume can be commodified.
We have already seen the commodification of water by large companies like Nestle, who have been privatizing and selling vital water back to local populations in the global south for decades.
In Canada, there has been an ongoing debate about whether, and how much, of our public healthcare system should be privatized. Indeed, we are struggling. Several times a year now, we see the news that yet another person has died waiting for care in a hospital’s emergency room.
The proposed solutions often depend on political affiliation: business-oriented conservatives say privatize; socialist-minded folks say reallocation of government funds and fixing the broken system is needed.
When I want to walk in any park in the city of Montreal, it is free, but as soon as I want to head to a provincial park for a hike, there is a fee of at least $10. If I cross the border to New York State, the hikes are once again free. And thus far, so is crossing the border.
Do not take for granted anything free in your daily life; if there is a way to privatize it and charge for it, there is a company that wants to do so.
I watched a fascinating and dystopian YouTube video this morning called, “subscriptions are ruining our lives. Here’s why they’re everywhere now.” I found myself wide-eyed as the host of the More Perfect Union YouTube channel interviewed an American woman about how she couldn’t use her HP printer if she cancelled the ink subscription plan it came with. Without a subscription for HP ink to be replaced automatically whenever the cartridge was low, she couldn’t print anything.
Then the host showed us how Tesla and other new vehicles charge additional monthly subscription fees to access features on the car that people had already bought. One would think that the navigation system and “find my car” features would be included in the steep cost of buying a Tesla, but that would be naive.
HP has since phased out their subscription printers, after facing immense backlash from buyers. Some other hidden fees and subscriptions are also facing backlash, but unless consumers continue to be vocal about absurd subscriptions and privatization, it will continue as it is.
If anything, the recent US election should serve as a warning call for consumers who are concerned about privatization. The Republican Party is cozy with big business, and Trump, as a lifelong businessman-turned-politician, thinks of a nation itself as a business.
We cannot consider ourselves immune to the mass privatization of things even if we live in Canada or another part of the world. Anywhere that business can operate in a profit-driven framework is vulnerable to this future dystopia I described above.
All Subscriptions are not Created Equal
Subscription services are not necessarily bad, and in some cases they make sense. Subscription services for newspapers have been around for centuries, and were a way for publications to continue providing information to citizens while covering costs and being able to grow.
Subscription models like Netflix are not necessarily bad either, they just require a reorientation of how writers, directors, actors and other film crew works should be paid (the main reason for the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes last year). That process remains ongoing, even after strikes have ended.
What is bad is when companies that provide a product we used to ownsuddenly decide that we should be charged to continue using it. The CEO of HP Printers blatantly said in a televised interview that people who buy printers but don’t continue to buy their ink are “lost customers and lost profits.”
If this is a problem, it is not the consumer’s fault, but the fault of the company, or more likely, the economic system itself.
What is also bad is when life-giving necessities are privatized to the point that the ordinary citizen can no longer afford their basic needs.
This is what has been happening with Nestle and other companies as they take away the right to free water of locals. It’s what happens when Monsanto shuts down thousands of small family farms with their city-sized law firms, forcing people to sell their land and buy Monsanto products.
It is what happens when universal prescription plans offered in Canada refuse to cover certain medications, leading people to go into debt in order to stay alive.
My fear is that the dystopia I described above has genuine merit. It may seem outlandish to imagine a mall entrance fee, or citizens of an entire city paying a monthly fee for air purifier systems owned by Blackrock (who you really need to research, if you have not yet), but it is entirely feasible.
The sooner we stop taking our rights, our physical spaces, and our one-time-purchase products for granted, the sooner we can stand up to these very real corporate intentions.
What Can We Do?
Being vocal is the most important thing. Use social media, newspapers, digital platforms, and community organizing to continue pushing back against companies that want to take advantage of us for profit.
We are the only thing stopping large corporations from hidden fees, subscription packages, and unnecessary taxes. We must be the voice of reason that counters these greed-oriented desires.
There are also lobbying groups and class action lawsuits that aim to protect consumers in Canada, the US, and other countries. If you find yourself wondering about surprise fees showing up on your credit card, emails from companies informing you about changes or the addition of bizarre fees, make noise.
Let politicians in your area, or even nationally, know that this is not acceptable.
Another, tedious yet important, thing is to do your research before making a purchase. HP Printers had the subscription services information listed in a very difficult to read way. This was intentional. Looking at online reviews, reddit threads, and even social media can help you discover if a purchase you want to make will come with financial strings attached.
We are already living in a rental market crisis in most cities across North America. Many of us are already finding ourselves struggling to pay basic bills, much less save for retirement. The last thing we can afford is a heavily privatized subscription society.
If you want to learn more about how big companies plan to “subscribe-ify” and privatize everything from goods and services to the literal roads we drive on and the air we breathe, you can explore these links:
YouTube deep dive about Blackrock and housing.
How Blackrock is buying more and more of the world.
Pushing back against difficult-to-cancel subscriptions.
The ultra-rich buying and privatizing land in Montana.
The privatization of the prison industrial complex.
What else would you add? What have you seen being charged for lately? Let me know in the comments.
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