The quick guide to Canada’s political parties stances on copyright

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Conservative’s answer: Yes, locks are critical to protecting artist's revenues Bill C-61 seeks to fight piracy over the internet by giving companies even more power over where digital content can be moved. While it reduces the maximum fines for criminals actually caught violating intellectual property laws — the bill makes it illegal for anyone to break the digital locks (DRM) that restrict how media (even legitimately purchased) can be used. It's a somewhat confusing solution that government officials behind the bill call a "balanced approach to truly benefit Canadians". Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Heritage Minister Josée Verner presented the legislation at a news conference today on Parliament Hill.Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Liberal’s answer: No The Conservative government is getting ready to pass a Copyright Act that has one of the most restrictive digital lock provisions in the world. This bill’s Technical Protection Measures (TPM) will make it illegal to copy a DVD so you can watch it on your tablet – even if you are not infringing on copyright. If the Bill passes without amendment, any circumvention will become a crime, even if it is only done to enjoy material you have legally purchased on the platform you want to view it on. Despite Conservative reassurances, Bill C-11 will mean that Canadians will often not have the right to take material they purchase—such as music—and transfer it onto different devices. And there have been persistent, troubling rumours that the Conservatives will attempt to amend C-11 to give the government greater powers to block and pull down websites. Liberals have listened to consumers, educators, artists, creators, innovators, and ordinary Canadians and acted transparently to propose amendments that strike equilibrium....Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

New Democratic’s answer: Yes, locks are critical to protecting artist's revenues The New Democratic Party has been clear about its desire to ensure that Canada's copyright regime is updated, and New Democrats place copyright reform at the centre of what must be a much broader innovation agenda for Canada. This includes codifying protection for net neutrality, committing to national benchmarks for broadband access right across rural and northern Canada and into the urban areas, and enhancing our digital cultural programs to ensure that Canadians are able to participate as international citizens within the democratic, culturally vibrant, public commons that is the Internet. In respect of copyright reform, New Democrats have been consistent. We told the government to bring WIPO into the House and have it ratified. If we had done that, it would have taken some of the international pressure off Canada. We have been telling the government that we fundamentally support the principle of remunerating creators for their content and oppose criminalizing consumers.Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Communist’s answer: Let the free market, instead of the government, decide The socialist government will have to replace the old capitalist state by a new socialist state. In order to reorganize the Canadian economy and society generally for the benefit of working people, it will have the duty to enforce the constitution and code of laws of the Canadian socialist republic, to maintain popular rule, and to protect socialist property and the rights and personal property of the individual.Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Christian Heritage’s answer: Let the free market, instead of the government, decide Excessive protectionism inhibits innovation. That benefits no one. Reverse engineering for security or interoperability is not the same as...Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Bloc Québécois’ answer: Let the free market, instead of the government, decide The first approach is one using digital locks. Sure, we can say that digital locks are necessary, and that they must be respected, but to base an entire bill on them is a bit much. With this bill, the government is telling artists that if they want to make money, all they have to do is put digital locks on their musical works to prevent anyone from copying them. If people want to make a copy for themselves, or to transfer the music to another format, it would be absurd to make them buy the original work again. That makes no sense, and it will not work. We are talking about the survival of artists and their art here, and this is important for many reasons. An approach based on digital locks is completely ludicrous. Source

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Libertarian’s answer: Let the free market, instead of the government, decide The Libertarian Party of Canada realizes that government regulatory agencies often do far more harm than good. These regulatory agencies ultimately hurt consumers by increasing costs and curbing competition. As such, the Libertarian Party of Canada would. Repeal the powers of the CRTC over radio, television and communicationsSource

Should the government allow digital publishers to place locks on their content (MP3s, etc)? ^{stats discuss}

Green’s answer: No In order to achieve these objectives the Green Party of Canada will: · Establish a copyright registry that will facilitate tracking and protecting of copyrights where registration is optional for the original author, but mandatory upon the transfer of ownership or death of the author; · Remove the Levy on Blank Audio Recording Media and replace it with private copying exemptions; · Introduce a formal notice-and-notice mechanism for dealing with copyright infringement online, thereby affirming common carrier status for Internet Service Providers (ISPs); · Renounce the Crown Copyright applied to all government produced documents, thereby immediately releasing them into the public domain; · Hold consultations with music and movie industry artists, producers and distributors along with citizen's assemblies to address the issues of online peer-to-peer networks.Source