CBC's Spark has posted video of a media scrum with Industry Minister Tony Clement following last night's town hall meeting. The full video is worth watching (embedded below), but I think the key comment comes toward the end when he discusses the timing of a new bill. In answer to the question "when can we expect the bill," he states "we're not quite sure. My personal target date was December 11th, but if it takes an extra couple of weeks or an extra couple of months to get the bill right, I'm also of that view too. So we have a target but we're not even at the tough stuff yet when you have draft and get something on paper." This comment suggests that the bill could easily slip until the spring of 2010, given that there has been no drafting, the consultation is still running, and the Minister has just opened the door to delaying into next year in order to get the bill right.
That’s good, spring 2010
That’s good sign.
Sping 2010, hopefully we will have an election before then, and Harper will not be re-elected and the Bill if drafted will be killed again by the election call.
Would Liberals be better?
Do not assume that a Liberal bill would be better, or that they would be immune to pressure from the U.S. and Big Copyright. We need to convince *all* parties that copyright reform needs to be fair.
But a Liberal minority would be better
A Lib minority would improve things vastly should the NDP still be caught in the middle. They are the only party that has outright stated that DMCA-style copyright reform is a danger to the public. The fact that Olivia Chow herself was shoved away from the Toronto town hall indicates that the party is not likely to roll over on this one.
If the Libs shove Harper out of the way: bonus. We’ve suffered enough under his party’s radicalism, xenophobia and ignorance. But, most importantly, if the NDP holds the balance of power, you will not see a C61 style bill anytime soon.
I’ll repost this here:
Sent Wednesday August 26th, 2009 as an Official Government of Canada Communication. Point #4 seemed quite odd to me considering this event was sold out:
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Thank you for signing up for the Toronto Copyright Town Hall! We are in the final stages of preparation and are looking forward to a successful event.
The Toronto Town Hall is expected to be our largest copyright consultation event, with participation not only from those in the room, but also from Canadians sending in online comments and views. We wanted to provide you with some information in advance so that registered participants can start thinking about their contribution to this important dialogue.
1.The host for the evening will be the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry. He will be onstage all night and will offer brief closing remarks once you, the participants, have had your say.
2.The evening will be moderated by a third-party facilitator to help ensure we hear from as many people as possible in our limited time together. Her job will be to coordinate the online and in-person discussions and keep everything running on time.
3.Due to the large number of registered participants, those wishing to speak at the Town Hall will be selected by lottery.
4.In addition to those who registered for the Town Hall through the website, we have invited some individuals and organizations who specialize in copyright issues or can speak on behalf of a large number of Canadians for whom copyright is a significant issue. So that everyone can benefit from a breadth of perspectives, we will also be calling on some of them — again, selected by lottery – to present their points of view.
5.Online participants will be able to submit comments throughout the evening. Comments will be chosen at random and read onstage at regular intervals by a designated official.
The Town Hall will get underway promptly at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 27, 2009. If you have general inquiries about the copyright consultations, please contact info@copyrightconsultation.gc.ca.
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How much of a kick back did Clement get for this? Can we find out?
blah blah blah
blah blah still more words but no more action blah blah
Election
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090831/tories_election_090901/20090901?hub=TopStories
All this crap (politics and government) is a waste of time and energy…
… people have to know by now that if we don’t change our entire society from the ground up we are going extinct.
How are you going to pay for gas when it goes back up to $100/barrel? What about 200? 300?… 1000? It has no place to go but up and when it goes up so does everything else.
And we are wasting time and energy on copyright!?! pffh… what stupidity. What arrogance. Our superior intellect has finally caught up with us and we have wasted our world away.
It’s not too late to change, but I fear so many are hopelessly inert in this society that no change is on the horizon.
Happy trails ants… keep marching.