Later today, it appears certain that the government will lose a non-confidence motion, spelling the end to the current Parliament and sending Canada into yet another election. There have been some legislative and policy successes since 2008 including the Anti-Spam law (C-28), a law involving ISPs and child pornography (C-22), and the recent launch of open government and open data initiatives. In addition, the government re-appointed Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart for another three year term, supported the entry of Globalive into the Canadian wireless market, and pressured the CRTC to revisit its policy on usage based billing.
Notwithstanding these developments, the focus will undoubtedly shine on the bills and policies that were started but not completed. These include:
- the digital economy strategy
- a policy on foreign investment in telecommunications
- a policy on foreign ownership in book publishing and distribution
- a policy on the forthcoming wireless spectrum auction
- Bill C-29, a bill to reform PIPEDA
- Bill C-32, the copyright reform bill
- Bills C-50, 51, 52, the lawful access bills
- Bill C-393, the private members bill to facilitate access to generic medicines in Africa
The future for each of these initiatives varies.
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