Government says copyright bill C-11 to be studied intensely, up to 16 hours per week

OTTAWA—In an effort to push reintroduced copyright legislation through the House of Commons by the Christmas break, a special legislative committee studying the bill will sit for up to 16 hours a week, Heritage Minister James Moore told reporters Thursday. Introduced in the House Thursday, Bill C-11, The Copyright Modernization Act, is a replica of the former Bill C-32 that died at committee stage when the 40th Parliament dissolved for a federal election in March. Like its predecessor, the new bill will move to a special legislative committee after passing second reading in the House, which is expected within a few weeks. The new committee can continue the study begun under its predecessor, which launched hearings a year ago in September 2010. Heritage Minister Moore and Industry Minister Christian Paradis announced the reintroduction of the bill at the Ottawa office of software producer bitHeads Inc., where they stressed the importance of moving the bill quickly at the special legislative committee. “The legislative committee can focus singularly on this subject matter and not be distracted by the daily soap operas that committees are often distracted by,” Moore said. During the previous Parliament, he said, the government pushed for the legislative committee to meet up to 16 hours per week to help cope with the large number of witnesses who had asked to voice their opinion on the highly divisive bill. But under pressure from reluctant opposition MPs, the committee instead followed a more typical workload, meeting roughly four hours each week, Moore said. That was under a minority government, where the opposition parties collectively controlled the committee agendas. Now that the Conservatives have a majority, the legislative committee's pace of study will increase dramatically, Moore said. “We wanted to sit many more hours per week … to make sure we got through the witnesses, got through the clause-by-clause, and got to consider amendments,” he said. “We plan on having that kind of a schedule for this legislation." The bill is identical to the former Bill C-32, which is crucial to its speedy movement through committee, the ministers said, because it allows the new committee to pick up where the previous one left off. The former legislative committee heard from 75 witnesses representing a broad range of interests, including recording companies, book publishers, broadcasters, teachers, students, industry associations, tech companies and consumer groups. The government appears reluctant to amend the bill's controversial provision that provides strict legal protection for the digital locks on software, media and devices. Asked by reporters Thursday if the Tories would consider amending the provision for reasons beyond strictly technical concerns, Moore said it is unlikely. “We’ll see what the amendments are as proposed by the opposition … but unless it’s something that’s particularly stunning, I don’t see us moving,” Moore said. “We’ve heard all of the arguments and we’re comfortable with our legislation.” Critics of the Conservative government's approach say an exception should be made so that it is not an infringement of copyright to circumvent a digital lock for personal or consumer or purposes. The new legislative committee is expected to differ from the previous one in several ways. The Conservatives will control a majority of the committee seats and therefore its mechanics and decisions. Several members of the previous committee also failed to win seats in the 2011 general election. These include Liberal MPs Pablo Rodrigues and Dan McTeague as well as Bloc Quebecois MPs Carole Lavallée and Serge Cardin. MPs who sat in on most of the previous committee's meetings who have returned to Parliament include NDP MP Charlie Angus, Liberal MP Marc Garneau, Conservative MPs Mike Lake, Dean Del Mastro, Peter Braid, and the former committee chair, Conservative MP Gordon Brown. Del Mastro—who has moved on from his former position as parliamentary secretary to the minister of heritage, becoming parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister—told The Wire Report Wednesday that he would like to continue working on the copyright file. nkyonka@thewirereport.ca

Government says copyright bill C-11 to be studied intensely, up to 16 hours per week

Broadcast | September 29, 2011

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