"especially as you have smaller players that are able to buy last mile lines wholesale at/near cost to compete."
The US has just as much as this.
US rates are lower for the more common bandwidth options [1][2], and as soon as you consider Purchasing Parity - Canadian rates are very high. 'Equipment' / CAPEX is a tiny part of the cost of said networks, so it really should cost a lot less to manage networks in Canada if salaries are lower. Once that factor is taken into consideration Canadian prices are very materially higher.
That US companies are cheezy with their 'increasing rates' is kind of a different story.
[1] https://mobilesyrup.com/2019/12/18/canada-top-five-highest-c...