Digital Copyright Canada

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

Member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway / Vancouver Kingsway

Name: Don Davies
e-Mail: <Davies.D@parl.gc.ca>
Party: New Democratic Party

Michael Geist reports that, "coming out of last night's election, 34 candidates who supported the copyright pledge during the campaign were elected - 11 Liberals and 23 New Democrats".

There is now a first issue of This Week in Vancouver, intended to be the weekly newsletter of Vancouver Fair Copyright. It includes a link to their MP Meetings which describes what meetings have already happened.

The following was received via electronic mail from The Honourable David L. Emerson, P.C., M.P.

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Dear Mr. McOrmond:

Thank you for your correspondence of October 24, 2007. I agree with you that counterfeiting is an important issue that we need to address, given the important social and economic consequences associated with such activity.

William New of IP-Watch writes about a pact discussed yesterday in Question Period (Video, Hansard). Please read articles from Howard Knopf and Michael Geist, a press release from Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and an information page on the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada website.

This Washington Post article by Yuki Noguchi includes:

Canadian Minister of International Trade David L. Emerson, when he was minister of industry, sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez requesting that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office publicize its timeline for a review of the patent claims held by NTP. The letter and other communications were obtained by The Washington Post under the Freedom of Information Act.

We need to remember that during Mr. Emerson's watch at Industry Canada that the Canadian Patent Office radically changed the Manual for Patent Office Practises (MOPOP) by re-interpreting and bypassing legal precedent to justify increasing the granting of poor quality information/mental process patents. While the letter he sent to the USPTO makes for good politics, actions speak much louder than publicity stunts.

Emerson might easily have written to the USPTO saying he would be their "worst nightmare", for all the value his threats have.

The RIM case is not an infringement case, but the outcome of the policy failure of many patent offices, and the failure of governments to fix these problems that chill innovation.

A group of Vancouver Kingsway constituents have set up an online petition demanding that Mr. Emerson "should be immediately recalled and a by election held so that the people of Vancouver Kingsway and in general all Canadians can be represented by the party and candidate of their choice".

While I don't think online petitions have much effect on offline politics, it will be interesting if this younger cabinet is more likely to notice this.

From: http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/cabinet.asp.

The Right Honourable Stephen Joseph Harper (Calgary Southwest)
Prime Minister of Canada

The Honourable Maxime Bernier (Beauce)
Minister of Industry

The Honourable Beverley J. Oda (Durham)
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Status of Women

The Honourable David Emerson (Vancouver Kingsway)
Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics

The Honourable John Baird (Ottawa West--Nepean)
President of the Treasury Board

The Honourable Peter Gordon MacKay (Central Nova)
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency

Election 2006: Please add comments to discuss riding specific activities, links to candidate information, etc.

Incumbent information

Vancouver Kingsway / Vancouver Kingsway
MP: Hon. David Emerson (Parliamentary Internet)
Minister of Industry

Dear Prime Minister Paul Martin,
Minister of Canadian Heritage and Minister responsible for Status of Women Liza Frulla,
Minister of Industry David Emerson,
Member for Ottawa-South David McGuinty,

On November 23, 2005, Canada became the first country to ratify the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) International Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. I agree that this is something that Canadians can be proud of.