House parties discussing special legislative committee to study copyright bill

OTTAWA—Liberal Party MPs are pushing for a special legislative committee of the House of Commons to review the government’s new copyright reform bill once it is tabled in Parliament. The move would be a way to handle potential conflicts over copyright policy within parties and for the MPs responsible for reviewing the legislation. A study by the House heritage committee would emphasize the needs of copyright owners over users and intermediaries, observers say, and the industry committee vice versa. Members on the Commons heritage committee would want the bill to face scrutiny under their charge, but MPs on the industry committee have a similar interest. Industry Minister Tony Clement and Heritage Minister James Moore head the two departments informing the legislation, but Clement is technically the minister responsible for copyright and is expected to sponsor the bill in the House. Liberal Party whip Rodger Cuzner said there has been discussion on Parliament Hill about bridging the divide with a special legislative committee, likely to include senior MPs from the heritage and industry committees and representatives from all parties. “Through conversations with some of the people on either committee, that’s been talked about,” Cuzner told The Wire Report. “Obviously, with the people on heritage, their focus is to recognize the creative side of it, those that create the product,” he said. “On the other side, it’s being respectful of those that carry the product, and whether their competing interests . Both groups feel they should be represented.” Liberal MP Scott Simms, a member of the Heritage committee, said copyright is profoundly complex. “There are so many people who don’t quite grasp and understand the complexity of copyright legislation. It’s deep, it’s wide, and it encompasses far more than any of us realize,” he told The Wire Report. Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro, the parliamentary secretary to Moore, said he believes the Liberal caucus is divided on copyright issues. But there appears to be divisions within both parties over a levy on mp3 players proposed in NDP MP Charlie Angus’ private members’ legislation. Simms acknowledged his MPs have differing views, but he noted the Conservative MP who chairs the Heritage committee, Gary Schellenberger, broke a tied vote at the heritage committee in support of a committee motion favouring an mp3 player levy. The committee vote sent the motion to the Commons for debate and vote. “The problem with using the levy in a converged world is that it gets tangled with other applications,” Simms said. “In other words, you’ve got to stick to the mp3 and not the other applications. I’m speaking for myself here. There are problems when it comes to to a BlackBerry. I fully admit that. I wouldn’t want it to be extended to BlackBerrys.” Simms said he believes outlawing the circumvention of digital locks and attempting to prosecute illegal downloads are impractical. Answering government accusations that a levy would constitute a new tax, Simms pointed out that the levy in place on CDs, although dated now, was never considered a tax. “If your list of copyright measures, or ways that you protect copyright, is an exhaustive one, and you want to include everything, you could spend years , and I’ll give my son 48 hours to get around it,” he said. Del Mastro said the government bill will focus on measures against illegal distribution, the kind Simms said are impossible to enforce. “I think the key of any copyright act is going to focus on illegal redistribution, to ensure that copyright holders and rights holders are paid for their works,” Del Mastro told The Wire Report. “I think the notion that putting a tax on digital technologies, anything with a memory, any digital device with a memory, is what the motion actually called for. It’s BlackBerrys, it’s laptops, it’s home computers, it’s everything.” Del Mastro seemed uncertain on the question of timing for the passage of the copyright bill, although Clement has said the government intends to table it before Parliament’s summer recess. “If there was cooperation amongst all parties, then I think there’s a great opportunity to successfully pass a copyright bill in the near future,” he said. “Whether that’s by the end of the spring, or by Christmas, we’re not in control of how quickly bills go through Parliament.” The list of lobbyists who have been meeting senior bureaucrats, ministerial advisers, MPs and ministers about the legislation is long. Legal consultant Wand Noel registered this month to represent the Council of Ministers of Education, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, the Canadian Council of Archives and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada. Representatives from the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) have met Liberal MP and party industry critic Marc Garneau, Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the Conservative Party’s chief heritage critic, Del Mastro, Heritage department officials and other MPs. Associations reporting lobbying activities on intellectual property during the past three months also include the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, the Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association, the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, Canada’s Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies, the Canadian Recording Industry Association, the Entertainment Software Association of Canada and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives, which met with the new Canadian ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer. news@thewirereport.ca

House parties discussing special legislative committee to study copyright bill

Broadcast | March 31, 2010

Unlock all the Canadian telecom, broadcasting and digital media news you need.

FREE TRIAL

SUBSCRIBE

Inside The Wire Report

Information

Hill Times Publishing

Get in Touch With Us