Post Tagged with: "des"

Digital Economy Deja Vu: My Appearance Before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science & Tech

I appeared yesterday before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology  for a hearing on the adoption of digital technologies by small and medium sized businesses.  While the hearing was shortened by a vote in the House of Commons, it still provided an opportunity to raise ongoing concerns with Canada’s digital economy strategy failure. My prepared remarks are posted below:

Appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology, May 28, 2013

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May 29, 2013 3 comments Committees, News

The Tax-Free Six Step Approach to a Digital Economy Strategy

Several months ago in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada, Industry Minister Christian Paradis promised to unveil a Canadian digital economy strategy by the end of the year. Unless there is a late December surprise, however, 2012 will end in the same manner as every other year – with Canada as one of the only developed economies without a clear plan for success in the online environment.

The digital economy strategy file – dubbed the Penske file due to years of “work” with no results – now stands an unequivocal failure. Despite a public consultation on the issue and numerous models to emulate, the government has puzzlingly been unable to develop a coherent vision for Canada’s digital future.

The government could have pointed to any number of developments – copyright reform, anti-spam legislation, research tax credit changes, a pro-consumer approach at the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the forthcoming spectrum auction, and reversal of the hated Internet billing dispute – as evidence that it has been active on the issue. Yet without a clear map for the future, the efforts are understandably perceived to be a policy mish-mash without a clear target.

How to fix the digital economy strategy mess in a fiscal environment where there is little, if any, money available to pay for it?  My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) points to a tax-free digital economy strategy that would have six components.

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December 18, 2012 3 comments Columns

The Tax-Free Six Step Approach to a Digital Economy Strategy

Appeared in the Toronto Star on December 16, 2012 as The Tax-Free Six Step Approach to a Digital Economy Strategy Several months ago in a speech to the Economic Club of Canada, Industry Minister Christian Paradis promised to unveil a Canadian digital economy strategy by the end of the year. […]

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December 18, 2012 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

Digital Economy Strategy has Become the Federal Government’s “Penske File”

Later today, Industry Minister Christian Paradis will deliver a speech that will provide an update on the government’s digital economy strategy. The speech is likely to point to the recently launched Digital Technology Adoption Pilot Program, talk about moving forward with copyright and privacy legislation, describe work on spectrum, and indicate that a decision has still not been made on the removal of foreign investment restrictions. In other words, basically repackage several earlier speeches on the same issue.

My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the lack of movement on the digital economy strategy, arguing that it has emerged as the government’s “Penske File”- the source of considerable discussion and much “work” but thus far few tangible results (for non-Seinfeld watchers, the Penske file has become synonymous for a non-existent work project).

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November 29, 2011 10 comments Columns

Clement’s Digital Economy Strategy Speech

Industry Minister Tony Clement delivered an update on the digital economy strategy in a speech that was disappointingly short on specifics.  There were some comments on timelines for spectrum auctions and foreign investment (heading into 2012), but no reference to open access or open data and no real benchmarks or […]

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November 23, 2010 1 comment News