Last payphone to be removed in Bonnyville

Last week we reported on how St. Paul was about to lose their last payphone in the town, and now the same fate for the last endangered species payphone is happening in Bonnyville.

On January 24, Mayor Mayor Elisa Brosseau was informed by a letter from Winmactel acting on behalf TELUS Communications Inc. to provide notice that the last payphone in Bonnyville located at Reddi Mart will be removed on or after April 5, 2022.

According to the CRTC, there were 95,000 payphones in Canada in 2008. By the end of 2012, that number had dropped to 70,000.

“As an agent acting on behalf of TELUS Communications Inc. Winmactel sends this communication to you in compliance with CRCT decision 2004-47 sections 56 to 66,” Winmactel wrote in the letter to the Mayor. “To provide notice that the last payphone in Bonnyville will be removed on or after April 5, 2022.”

“This is due to the decline in usage notification of the removal has been posted on the payphone located at the Reddi Mart,” Winmactel stated. “We request that you post this notice in your local newspaper, newsletter.”

It’s the end of an era in Bonnyville for the payphone.

Lakeland Connect would like to hear from residents and their thoughts on the end of the payphone era in Bonnyville.