The majority Conservatives on Monday defeated a motion raised by the Liberals to stop Bill C-11 from being sent to committee and effectively kill the bill. While the vote was a foregone conclusion, the motion highlights the political divide that has emerged on the current copyright bill. All opposition parties – NDP, Liberals, Bloc, and Greens – supported the motion which read:

“the House decline to give second reading to Bill C-11, An Act to amend the Copyright Act, because it fails to: ( a) uphold the rights of consumers to choose how to enjoy the content that they purchase through overly-restrictive digital lock provisions; (b) include a clear and strict test for â€œfair dealingâ€ for education purposes; and (c) provide any transitional funding to help artists adapt to the loss of revenue streams that the Bill would cause”.



On digital locks, the solution advocated by the majority of stakeholders is to link circumvention to copyright infringement.

On fair dealing, it is to codify the Supreme Court of Canada’s six factor fair dealing test.

On revenue streams, it is to commit to extending current funding without the budget slashing planned elsewhere

C-11 will eventually receive second reading and go to committee as the government clearly has the votes to pass it unchanged. However, copyright should not be a partisan issue. There is scope for compromise on all of these issues:

I wrote about these issues over a year ago with the obvious roadmap for a compromise. The compromise remains much the same, but the bigger question is now whether the government is open to it.