The Adventures Of Jim Prentice In Weasel Land

Open, transparent and accountable, Jim Prentice, Canada's Minister of America's Entertainment Industry seems to be sensitive about his reputation being tarnished by facts. Prentice is still hiding from the voters after the whooping he received last winter when he tried to slip his keeper's suspect revision of copyright law into the house.

A controversial bill that seeks to reform Canadian copyright laws will not be introduced this week, federal officials confirmed on Thursday.

A spokesperson for Minister of Industry Jim Prentice said he would not be introducing the bill either Thursday or Friday. The House of Commons goes into recess for the holidays at the end of this week, meaning the bill could not be introduced until late January at the earliest.

Prentice's retreat came in the wake of relentless opposition to an anticipated DMCA style law that would serve only the interests of the largely American and global corporate behemoths of the entertainment industries. The law was framed by the Minister with no consultation with the Canadian public, the educational sector, libraries or Canadian artists. After being startled by a large and vocal gathering at his constituency office, Prentice let slip that he had, instead, created the proposed legislation after consulting CEOs and the like.

To date the law has not been introduced and Canadian stake holders have not been consulted. Whatever revisions Prentice has made are being kept under wraps, though speculation runs to the allowance for time shifting as a sop to those interested in protecting far more important rights and principles. Prentice's corporate masters are getting anxious that their hand made legislation won't get shoved up our law holes and Prentice continues to squirm.

Chief among those who are actually protecting the interests of Canadians is Ottawa professor Michael Geist. The rumours began circulating in the last few weeks that Prentice was getting ready to try and stuff his legislation through the house before the summer recess. That plan seems to have been scuttled by the continued vigilance of Geist and a great many other Canadians who actually care about reasonable copyright reform. The Facebook group, Fair Copyright for Canada has more than 40,000 members and yes, we are watching you Mr Prentice.

And what might we see, watching the antics of one Jim Prentice? How about employees in the office of the Industry Ministry tampering with his entry in the Wikipedia! Here is the entire delicious text of Michael Geist's post:

While Industry Minister Jim Prentice has sought to project an air of unflappability around the outcry over the Canadian DMCA, it would appear that behind the scenes his staff is working overtime to eliminate any negative comments on Wikipedia.  Prentice's Wikipedia entry has been anonymously amended multiple times over the past week with regular attempts to remove any copyright criticism (as I post this there is no reference to copyright).  The IP address of most of the anonymous edits trace back to Industry Canada.  For example, on May 27th someone from Industry Canada twice deleted the following:

Prentice has been responsible for developing new Canadian Intellectual Property laws akin to the DMCA in the United States, partly due to pressure from US-based advocacy groups. While he had promised to "put consumers first", the draft legislation seems to cater strictly to industrial groups and Prentice has now suggested consumer interests may not be heard for years. Indeed, Prentice has refused to talk to a group of protesters who went to his office to express their concern.

Later in the day, someone from Industry Canada added to the copyright section of the Prentice entry with:

Recent developments have shown that no such draft legislation exists and that Minister Prentice has yet to publically release any documents on the copyright issue. Minister Prentice is expected to draft a bill on copyright that will strike a balance between consumers and producers, while bringing Canada in line with current WIPO international standards.

On May 29th, the Prentice entry was changed with the heading "Controversies" switched to "Copyright." As the copyright issue heats up, there were further changes today.  An entry that previously stated:

The minister is planning on introducing a bill on June 5 2008 and is not communicating with the public or the press on the bill. The minister is being heavily influenced by foreign publishers and distributers.

was deleted by someone from Industry Canada, instead substituting a comment from a prior press scrum that the bill will not be introduced until Prentice is satisfied about the right balance.  The revised entry does not stop there, adding:

Prentice has been praised for his strong management of the Industry portfolio. He has been dubbed the unofficial deputy prime minister, and is seen as the strongest Minister in the Harper government. He is widely praised in both political and private circles, as he personifies experience, confidence and competence, ability and capability.

So who thinks Prentice is the strongest Minister in the Harper government personifying experience, confidence, competence, ability and capability?  Someone at Industry Canada, presumably from his own staff.  This part of the entry was quickly deleted.

Well, if the facts don't suit you, change them. Atta boy Jim! You're doing a heckuva job. And let's hear it for those hard working gnomes at Industry Canada, polishing turds on the taxpayer's dime, I'm sure SONY, EMI, Universal Music Group, BMG and the rest of your constituency appreciate your efforts.