Last week, I had the opportunity to deliver the keynote address at a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) panel on the TPP. My talk, which begins at 4:25 and runs until 41:00, focused on the digital policies within the massive agreement, including intellectual property, privacy, and Internet governance. After the talk, there was a panel discussion featuring Myra Tawfik, Warren Clarke, Barry Sookman, and David Lametti. The full event can be found here and is embedded below.

Canada and the TPP: My Talk on a Digital Policy Failure
November 16, 2015
Share this post
3 Comments

Law Bytes
Episode 277: Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada's Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention
byMichael Geist

June 22, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
Canada’s Campus Antisemitism Crisis: National Survey Finds Antisemitism Nearly Everywhere and University Responses Nowhere
Why the Answers to Hateful Content Online are Hiding in the Platforms’ Own Rules
From CCH to ChatGPT: How Canadian Copyright Law Played the Key Role in Deciding a Leading AI Training Data Case in India
Starting Over: Court Filing Confirms the CRTC’s Streamer Contribution Decisions Are Dead With a Full Online Streaming Act Reset to Come
The Name on the Window Was Enough: The Attacks on Kiva’s and the Normalization of Antisemitic Violence in Canada

Barry: I want to agree with you 100% on your point about how “trade” deals like the TPP need to be carried out in secrecy. You are absolutely correct that if the TPP details were made public throughout the negotiations, there is no doubt whatsoever that the deal would have been derailed.
But that’s because that is exactly what should have happened. When ~ahem~”trade” agreements are written by the corporations and puppetted through negotiations by corporatist governments in oppression of the constituency that those corporatist governments are supposedly serving at the pleasure of, they absolutely should be derailed!
The TPP is nothing but pro corporate-America and very anti-(global-)consumer/constituent. It absolutely should never have gotten anywhere near where it is. But I am not at all surprised that you defend it.
I gotta say I had a hard time Listening to Barry go on about how TPP levels the field for business and allows them to thrive. That actually may be true but there are a few serious considerations left at the wayside.
Consumer protections and geopolitical identity aside I see the TPP as toilet paper right off the throne of the old boys club. Google, MS, RIAA, MPAA, copy right trolls and other monopolistic and predatory giants don’t need a level playing field. They need to be disadvantaged so the NEXT innovation can take off and start a billion dollar industry. Hopefully in Canada.
Ultimately, I think we really need to be asking the question, How will the TPP start new business and innovation and how will it help our small/medium businesses internationally?
You’re a spamming douchebag. Nobody should ever use your services for anything.
DON’T SUPPORT SPAMMERS!