Digital Copyright Canada

Saying this was an interesting election to watch would be an understatement. The Conservatives received the majority they asked for with 167(54.2%) seats, but that wasn’t the biggest story for me last night. The NDP is now the official opposition with 102 seats, the Liberals are down to 34 seats, the Bloc may fade out of existence having barely kept 4 seats, and Green party leader Elizabeth May won her seat. It is clear that change was in the air, and change we received.

Now we will move to the hard part of governing. The Conservatives have some Progressive Conservative types who may be willing to aggressively ensure that Mr. Harper governs close to the center.

The NDP have a large, but very young and new caucus. Their learning curve is going to be massive, and there will be some bumps along the way which they will need to be very careful about.

The Liberals now need to take the time to figure out where they go from here, as will the Bloc who I hope will decide that the days of having a separatist party within the federal parliament are now over.

I live in the electoral district of Ottawa South. While people have asked me during the election which party to vote for that would best protect their rights in relation to technology law, I don't offer them the answer they want. I say to get involved in the local district, and find out which person or person(s) will best represent them. Having sat down with many MPs over the years, I truly believe it comes down to the individuals and not the parties.

Today I dropped in on the campaign offices of and Conservative Elie Salibi (@VoteElieSalibi) and Liberal David McGuinty (@DavidMcGuinty).

The following is a letter I wrote to my MP:

Mr. McGuinty,

I know Canadians love Obama, and I have to admit that I fell for this great speaker as well, but his decision to include Canada on the priority watch list in USTR's Special 301 shows how little he knows about this key legal and economic issue facing the global economy.

(link to press release of report)

A Hill Times article by Simon Doyle, Abbas Rana and Bea Vongdouanchanh documents the 40 Conservative targeted ridings. The in-paper version included a table of the ridings, and I've linked this article with the 40 ridings so people will know if they are one of them.

Please try to talk to all Candidates about copyright, but especially talk to the Conservatives in these ridings. It would be great if during this election that the Conservatives could find their "Charlie Angus" -- someone who can switch the party from being anti-technology/modernization to being an advocate.