Q&A: Should Canada have a unique international dialing code?

Kieran Murphy, a doctor at Toronto Western Hospital, recently published an op-ed essay in the Toronto Star advocating for Canada to adopt a unique international dialing code. The Wire Report spoke with him from Austria, where he is on a teaching assignment. Why do you feel we need a unique international dialing code? I think it’s about national identity. We’re separate from the U.S., we’re a separate sovereign entity. It’s become more and more important to us over the last year. We are using +1, which commingles us with the U.S. when anybody dials us, and it’s time we identified ourselves specifically as Canada. The current pattern of behaviour goes back to agreements from the 1940s when cables and exchanges we used like AT&T. We don’t need that anymore. We have digital technology, a change can be made. Which number would you like to see replace +1? I looked at different options on the keyboard of the phone based on the letters that go along with each letter on your keypad. Initially, I thought 236 would be great because that spells CDN but it’s taken by another country, so we can’t have that. Then I looked at EH, out of amusement, but that would be 34, which is Spain, so we can’t have that. But what is available is 22, which is CA. It would be very simple for people to think of CA-Canada. When we use email it’s Tim Hortons dot ca or Kieran Murphy dot ca, so CA would be a perfectly viable, memorable, usable alternative to +1. Would there be problems in converting the system over? I think in all honesty this is not a priority for the country given the enormous number of strategic tasks the government has ahead of it. It would come at the very bottom of those tasks and it’s much more important that we have proper health care, proper electricity generation, affordable housing, etc. But it’s something to do in the future because it brings with it sovereignty of our telecommunications system and it makes us reflect on the current commingling of our telecommunications and internet usage with American systems that affect our security in some ways. Considering you’re a physician, what got you interested in this topic? I was booking a ticket with Delta Airlines. When I put in +1 and my phone number it popped up as an American number and the American flag. And I thought, ‘that’s got to stop.’ So that’s what triggered this. Then, I was up early on Thursday morning walking the dogs and I thought, ‘I’m going to write something about this because it’s worth pointing this out.’ It’s something we should reflect upon and change. It’s time it changed. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Q&A: Should Canada have a unique international dialing code?

Regulatory |
By Paul Park
|October 9, 2026

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Q&A: Should Canada have a unique international dialing code?

Regulatory | By Paul Park |October 9, 2026

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Regulatory |
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|October 9, 2026