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Industry Committee Releases E-commerce Study

The Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology has released its final report on e-commerce in Canada (I appeared before the committee last October). The report has sixteen recommendations, but none are particularly innovative or surprising. They include emphasizing e-commerce in the forthcoming digital economy strategy, increasing affordability of Internet service, bringing anti-spam legislation into force, and (oddly) the need for ISPs to provide 24/7 tech support. The report also includes an inaccurate reference to a completed digital economy strategy, though it actually points only to a consultation document. The NDP offers a supplementary opinion that provides more interesting recommendations including setting aside proceeds from the spectrum auction to enhance broadband deployment, resuming Statistics Canada research on e-commerce, and establishing a digital literacy task force.

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