Appeared in the Hill Times on October 1, 2007 as Navigating Canada's Copyright 'Conflicts' In a sure sign of an impending throne speech, copyright lobby groups are out in full force calling on the government to prioritize intellectual property protection in its fall legislative agenda. Despite efforts to put forward […]
Post Tagged with: "canadian heritage"
Motzney Named New DG of Copyright Policy
The Hill Times is reporting that Barbara Motzney, formerly the Director General of Canadian Heritage's Planning and Intergovernmental Affairs Branch, has been named the Director General of Copyright Policy at Canadian Heritage. Motzney brings an interesting background to the position, including time at Industry Canada's E-commerce Task Force in the […]
Variety on Canadian Heritage Conflicts
Variety has published an article on the Canadian Heritage Copyright Policy branch conflict issue (joining the Globe, which posted on the issue yesterday) that features two surprising comments. First, Canadian Heritage is clearly no closer to providing "full and frank" disclosure about who knew what and when. According to a […]
Canadian Heritage Copyright Policy Rocked By Conflict of Interest Concerns
The Hill Times is reporting that Patricia Neri, the Director General of Copyright Policy at Canadian Heritage has been removed from her position to become a special advisor to Assistant Deputy Minister Jean-Pierre Blais with "duties still to be determined." While people move all the time in government, this development […]
Verner’s Challenge
The recent decision to shift Bev Oda out of the Canadian Heritage portfolio was one of the cabinet shuffle's worst kept secrets. While the current conventional wisdom is that Oda's replacement – Quebec City MP Josée Verner – will be a stronger voice for culture around the cabinet table, my technology law column this week (Toronto Star version, homepage version) argues that a change in Minister may not be enough. While Oda had her shortcomings, the reality may be that the problem lies less with the identity of the Minister of Canadian Heritage and more with the department itself.
Few doubt the importance of the cultural sector from both an economic and social policy perspective, yet that status is not reflected in the Department of Canadian Heritage, which has gradually morphed primarily into a granting agency for various cultural initiatives. Increased funding for festivals, films, museums, and other culture industry programs may be worthwhile, however, the problem with the grant approach is that it has locked Canadian Heritage into the status quo at a time of dramatic change.
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