I dont get the point of this story. This is EXTREMELY common in Canada, and honestly if you pay sticker price for your phone/internet (from the Big 3, not independent operators) in Canada you are an idiot/sucker.
All you have to do is call up your provider, hit Cancel service, give them a big sob story on how you LOVE the service but due to unforseen circumstances you can no longer afford it so unfortunately you have to cancel. They will work extremely hard to give you discounts to something that you can "afford". I have seen people get 75% off their cell phone bill (sticker price being $120 for their package but they were paying $30)
It used to be easier, but after a couple years they realized a ton of people were taking advantage of their retentions department (i.e calling them up threatening to cancel even though they had no intention of cancelling to begin with) so they clamped down a bit. You still get discounts just not as big of discounts as before, and if they think you are insincere in your threat to cancel they may call your bluff. But even with that, I was still able to get a $70 plan for $45