Digital Copyright Canada

Elections Canada Electoral district profile (Links to Map, Past Candidates, and Past Election Results)

Member of Parliament for Louis-Saint-Laurent / Louis-Saint-Laurent

Name: Hon. Josée Verner
e-Mail: <Verner.J@parl.gc.ca>
Party: Conservative Party of Canada

Here is a list of the top ridings I'll be watching this election night, and why. Click on the ridings to get more details, articles, etc.

Timmins--James Bay

Obvious place to start the list, with incumbent Charlie Angus of the New Democrats expected to keep his seat. He is the incumbent MP who best understands technology law issues, whether it be Copyright or Net Neutrality. He has also been very successful in educating and working within his caucus to enable the NDP to have some of the strongest candidates in this election.

Hugh McGuire is the Founder of LibriVox.org, a volunteer service that created audio books from public domain books. In his Open Letter to Ministers Prentice and Verner he discusses some of the harmful implications of legal protection for digital locks put around public domain or otherwise liberally licensed works.

An article by Deirdre McMurdy of The Ottawa Citizen suggests the bill will not be seen until late January.

Not surprisingly, the dysfunctional relationship between Industry and Heritage -- which share the copyright file -- is now being cited as a key part of the problem on copyright. That's an impression that the tendency for mutual finger-pointing has only reinforced.

In a speech on Nov. 6, Heritage Minister Josée Verner came remarkably close to candour on the subject of the rift between the two departments when she called for "better coordination between Industry Canada, Canadian Heritage and the CRTC."

A Canadian Press article discusses the possible delay in tabling the Copyright bill.

Prentice told the House that the government has an obligation to bring in a copyright bill to implement the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO's) Internet treaties that Canada signed onto in 1997.

Mr. Prentice should stop trying to pass the buck with this misinformation. Canada is under absolutely no obligation to implement or ratify these treaties.

Letter from the Office of the Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages. Dated November 15, 2007, in reply to a letter sent on 21 Aug 2007.

Dear Mr. McOrmond:

I am replying to your correspondence addressed to the Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, and co-addressed to the Honourable Jim Prentice, Minister of Industry, regarding copyright reform in Canada.

According to a Globe and Mail article by Grant Roberson, Heritage Minister Josée Verner waded into the highly charged battle over additional fees for television channels distributed by cable and satellite distributors. As an outsider, this seems to be a form of the same debate we are seeing with the Net neutrality.

Speaking Notes for The Honourable Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage, Status of Women and Official Languages, on the occasion of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Convention.

See an article by Deirdre McMurdy in The Ottawa Citizen who covered the speech.

With the Copyright Policy Branch of Canadian Heritage already dealing with possible conflict of interest regarding Patricia Neri, I now read that Heritage Minister Josée Verner may have her voting rights revoked by Elections Canada over possible election fraud.

Are these really the people we want in charge of some of the key policy that will determine the success or failure of the new knowledge economy in Canada?

An article in Playback Magazine by Patricia Bailey asks the question: Who is Josée Verner?