According to the latest CRTC data, we are becoming less reliant on payphones these days. Back in 2013, there were 84,870 payphones nationwide. Fast-forward nine years, and that number has plummeted by more than 75 percent, with the current Canada-wide total now standing at 18,994. This decline has also led to a major drop in payphone revenue for telecommunications companies, nosediving from $47.4 million in 2013 to just $3.6 million in 2022. If payphones became extinct, would anyone miss them? We dig deeper with John Lawford, who works with Ottawa’s Public Interest Advocacy Centre. Plus, a member of the CTV National News squad is in the fight of his life right now, and it has kept him off the airwaves for several months. CTV’s John Vennavally-Rao details his challenging war against a two-pronged cancerous attack.