Digital Copyright Canada

Of the 12 members of the C-32 committee, two of them were from the Bloc Québécois. Carole Lavallée (Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert) and Serge Cardin (Sherbrooke) were there at each meeting, with Guy André (Berthier—Maskinong) being on-hand for one meeting just in case there was a vote (He didn't speak that I am aware of).

I believe the questions directed at me when I had an opportunity to speak before the committee were typical of what I heard other meetings.

I have been asked a few times what the impact on copyright is of the current political turmoil. The general feeling is that even before the current situation, the economic crisis would already have pushed issues like copyright to the back burner of any party. It has been stated by much better political observers than I am that, even while mentioned in the recent throne speech and in the Conservative party platform, that copyright won't show up any time soon.

Howard Knopf highlights that copyright came up in the meeting between Gilles Duceppe, the Bloc Québécois leader, and Prime Minister Harper on August 30.

It is not known whether the Bloc's lack of enthusiasm for Bill C-61 is because it goes too far or doesn't go far enough.

I also suspect the fact that C-61 tromps all over provincial jurisdiction (technological measures are really about eCommerce, contract and tangible property law) was also not a topic of conversation. So much for the alleged purpose of the Bloc in federal politics.

A constituent received a letter from Bloc leader Gilles Duceppe on Bill C-61 that looks quite similar to what we saw from Bloc MP Thierry St-Cyr. The message: we somehow have to fulfill some obligation to ratify the WIPO treaties that the Liberal federal government signed, and the Bloc is worried that ISPs aren't being held more responsible for infringement.

Now here is my personal problem. Bill C-61 is an omnibus bill, with the majority of the bill being about "technological measures". A colleague did a work count of the English text and found that this component of the bill takes up over a third. If we were able to talk about ISP liability as an independent topic, I would have a more nuanced position that lies somewhere between no liability and the Bloc position of scapegoating communications providers.