Stephen Harper: Selling Canada By The Pound

Dear Canada,

Democracy is just too darned inconvenient, when my masters call it is impolite not to answer. And since you've all been so stroppy with your little concerns about fairness, freedom and that malarky, well, I've decided to go the imperial fiat route. As your minority prime minister I'm going to inflict a corrupt, ineffective copyright regime on the country. Let's not have the interests of the general public stand in the way of rapacious greed and corporate malfeasance. The lobby has spoken, let the litigation as business model commence.

Autocratically yours,
Stephen Harper


The following is lifted in its entirety from Michael Geist's blog.

Months of public debate over the future of Canadian copyright law were quietly decided earlier this week, when sources say the Prime Minister's Office reached a verdict over the direction of the next copyright bill. The PMO was forced to make the call after Canadian Heritage Minister James Moore and Industry Minister Tony Clement were unable to reach consensus on the broad framework of a new bill. As I reported last week, Moore has argued for a virtual repeat of Bill C-61, with strong digital locks provisions similar to those found in the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act and a rejection of a flexible fair dealing approach. Consistent with earlier comments on the need for a forward-looking, flexible approach, Clement argued for changes from C-61.

With mounting pressure from the U.S. - there have repeated meetings with senior U.S. officials in recent weeks - the PMO sided squarely with Moore's vision of a U.S.-style copyright law. The detailed provisions will be negotiated over the coming weeks by the respective departments, but they now have their marching orders of completing a bill that will satisfy the U.S. that comes complete with tough anti-circumvention rules and no flexible fair dealing provision.

The bill is not expected until June, but it will have dramatic repercussions once introduced. First, the bill represents a stunning reversal from the government's seeming shift away from C-61 and its commitment to a bill based on the national copyright consultation. Instead, the consultation appears to have been little more than theatre, with the PMO and Moore choosing to dismiss public opinion. Second, after adopting distinctly pro-consumer positions on other issues, Moore has abandoned that approach with support for what may become the most anti-consumer copyright bill in Canadian history. Third, the bill will immediately impact the Canadian position at the ACTA and CETA negotiations, where the bill's provisions on anti-circumvention and ISP liability will effectively become the Canadian delegation position.

For those wondering what can be done, my only answer is to speak out now. Write a paper letter to your Member of Parliament and send copies to the Prime Minister, Moore, Clement and Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff. No stamp is required - be sure to include your home address and send it to the House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6. Once that is done, join the Facebook group and the Facebook page and be sure to ask others do the same. You may spoken out before, but your voice is needed yet again.

Makes me sick to my stomach. I guess the agenda isn't hidden so much anymore. Canada's New Government is letting it all hang out, to hell with women's health and women's rights. To hell with responsible reproductive choice. To hell with some 50% of the population. To hell with Canadian values of fairness and decency. To hell with the rule of law. Our leaders sit idly by as certain of our population are stripped of their rights. Our leaders wipe the blood from their hands on the impeccable suits we've paid for, as they squirm and lie through their carrion clenched teeth about the crimes they sanction in our name. Our leaders no longer serve at our behest, rather they serve our tenders to the company next door. Our leaders squat in the filthy graft of their lobby fed winnings and sell our artists, educators, librarians and innovators to the lowliest of bidders.

To say I have lost faith in our system of government is an understatement. We are no longer being governed, these actions are not in our best interests, we're being sold off like so much demographic meat. After every effort by the actual stakeholders, by Canadian artists, writers, musicians and film makers, by educators, libraries and our most vital repositories of culture, after so very many people, citizens, real Canadians have spoken out saying, "We do not want this". After all of the effort and attempts to deal with the people who are sent to Ottawa in our name, after all of that, Stephen Harper has decided to simply enact a bad law because his master's voices have called and he is an obedient little whore.

I do not anticipate our milquetoast leader of the opposition will raise his timid voice in protest. After all, the corrupt opposition that sit across from Harper's corrupt government have shown only too willing to bend over and suck. They serve the same masters. One can only wonder who among this parliament of whores might remember who sent them and whose interests they are actually charged to serve.