Post Tagged with: "canadian heritage"

Government Launches Consultation on Foreign Ownership in Book Publishing and Distribution

The government has launched a new public consultation that opens the door to changes to the foreign investment restrictions in the book publishing, distribution, and retail sectors.

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July 21, 2010 1 comment News

Canadian Heritage Committee Releases Interim Digital Media Report

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has released an interim report on its Digital Media: Opportunities and Challenges study. I appeared before the committee in the spring.  The report simply reviews witness testimony without adopting any recommendations.

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June 18, 2010 Comments are Disabled News

Writers Guild of Canada: Levy on All Distribution and Storage Points

The Wire Report reports on this week's Canadian Heritage committee of the Writers Guild of Canada, which argued for two levies that would cover all distribution and storage points.  The WU wants both an ISP levy (as proposed to the CRTC last year) and an expansion of the private copying […]

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May 6, 2010 9 comments News

ACTRA on Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore

This week ACTRA's Stephen Waddell appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.  A discussion on the private copying levy led to a testy exchange about Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore with Waddell stating: "I really don't understand why our minister, the minister who should, as you say, be defending […]

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April 29, 2010 6 comments News

Why Is CRIA Reluctant To Provide Public Specifics About Copyright Reform?

Last week, the Canadian Recording Industry Association appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage with discussion that focused largely on copyright reform (media coverage of the appearance here).  While copyright was the key issue, what was striking was CRIA's reluctance to actually specify what reforms it supports.  That may sound unusual, but a review of recent public statements suggests that it is actually quite typical.  In recent years, CRIA has become very reluctant to provide specific views on reforms, seemingly relying instead on the sort of backdoor, lobbyist-inspired meetings that are the talk of Ottawa due to the Rahim Jaffer situation.

The transcript has not been posted yet, however, a review of the unofficial transcript shows that CRIA President Graham Henderson provided no legal specifics in his opening statement.  During questioning, he was repeatedly asked what his organization wants.  First Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez asked, eliciting the following response:

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April 28, 2010 63 comments News