Garneau, Geist and Anderson on Canada’s Digital Future

Click play to read what Marc Garneau and guest commentators Michael Geist and Steve Anderson had to say about the Liberal Digital Canada Plan during a live chat on April 11th, 2011.  Scroll below the chat for a detailed account of the Liberal proposals.

The Liberal Digital Canada Plan

With continuing, rapid leaps in computing capacity, data storage and wireless innovation, digital technology and the Internet have the potential to invigorate our democracy, our economy, and our culture, putting the full power of information and action into citizens’ hands. Scroll below the submission form for a detailed account of the Liberal proposals.

But in the last five years, Canada has fallen behind more ambitious competitors. The United Kingdom, France, Australia and the United States, for example, have developed far-reaching plans for the digital society of the future, and are introducing comprehensive policies and programs.

A Liberal government will develop and implement Digital Canada, focusing on the following objectives:

An Open Internet.

The Internet is today’s principal conduit for the free flow of ideas. To ensure it fosters the uninhibited exchange that innovation requires, Canada’s Internet environment must remain open. Internet traffic management must remain neutral, and maintain the open sharing of legitimate technologies, ideas and applications. A fair, effective wholesale regime is also essential to allow smaller Internet service providers to lease broadband infrastructure at fair prices.

A Liberal government will issue an Open Internet Directive to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), requiring that the CRTC promote the following principles when making any decisions that affect the Internet:

• The Internet must remain a public and open domain, allowing Canadians to access lawful applications, content, and entertainment residing anywhere online, using any lawful device of their choosing;
• Canadians cannot be subjected to Internet traffic management practices that stifle competition, reduce consumer choice and innovation, or unfairly discriminate or restrict user access to lawful Internet content; and
• Management of internet traffic must be transparent and ensure Canadians understand and have choice in how internet traffic is managed.

A Liberal government will oppose anti-competitive usage-based billing, support net neutrality and foster an open, competitive and innovative internet environment.

Access to Broadband for All Canadians

Liberals consider access to a high-speed broadband Internet connection essential infrastructure, just as the electricity grid and the telephone network were over a century ago. A Liberal government will publicly tender contracts for private companies to install broadband capacity for the hundreds of thousands of Canadians in rural, remote or northern areas who do not currently have access. To make those contracts economical for private investment, we will provide $500 million in support, allowing Canada to achieve basic high-speed Internet access for all Canadian households within three years. The source of that investment will be the next spectrum auction for wireless licensing rights.

Closing the Digital Divide.

Research shows that Internet skills lead to real economic benefits, including lower prices for consumers and more competitive small business. A Liberal government will work with all partners to promote digital life skills and training, in particular for older Canadians and lower income families.

Fair balance Between Creators and Consumers.

Digital technology offers many new opportunities, but enjoying content without compensating its creators shouldn’t be among them. At the same time, consumers should have freedom for personal use of digital content they rightfully possess. Liberals have worked to pass effective copyright legislation, including a private copying compensation fund instead of any new tax on consumers.

Flourishing Canadian Content, Culture and Identity in Digital Media.

Canadians should continue to have access to ever more Canadian stories and Canadian content in the Digital Canada of the future. New media should provide vibrant and rewarding new avenues for expression by Canadian artists. The public broadcasters, Radio Canada and the CBC have crucial roles to play in achieving these objectives.

On top of existing investments of $100 million per year for the Canada Media Fund, a Liberal government will support more creation of Canadian content by doubling the annual budget of the Canada Council for the Arts, from $180 million to $360 million over the next four years, and restore the Promart and Trade Routes international cultural promotion programs, increasing their funding to $25 million per year.

Open Government.

Canada’s federal government must embrace information technology and open data in order to improve services to Canadians and make government more transparent and accountable for public spending. Putting Statistics Canada and other government data online wherever possible, after meeting all privacy and other legal requirements, will strengthen Canadian democracy, help create and disseminate knowledge and spur innovation.

A key element of the Liberal plan for democratic renewal is Open Government. Liberals will adopt a new approach to information, issuing government-wide direction that the default position for all departments and agencies will be to release information to the public, both proactively and responsively, after privacy and other legal requirements are met. This initiative will see as many government datasets as possible available to the public online, free of charge in an open and searchable format.

A Healthy Business Environment that Rewards Innovation

The information and communications technology sector has played an important role in our economy and in Canadian society. Today, it generates over $155 billion in revenues annually, employs more than half a million Canadians and contributes almost 40 percent of total private sector research and development in Canada – a measure that must continue growing if we are to keep pace with competitors. We’re already home to world-leading companies such as Research in Motion, Open Text, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts.

A Liberal government will introduce two new measures to support Canada’s digital entrepreneurs, including:

• A new Innovation and Productivity Tax Credit that would grant Canadian investors a 15 percent tax credit for investments in small, early-stage digital start-ups that don’t yet have the track record to seek financing from more traditional sources such as banks and the stock market.
• An extension of the popular “Flow-Through Shares” tax model to digital start-ups.  This tax incentive would allow venture companies with little or no revenue to pass on tax deductions to investors, creating a significant incentive to invest in Canadian digital entrepreneurs.

The Parliament Canadians Deserve

Liberals will advance reforms to improve the hyper-partisan atmosphere in Parliament. Canadians want to see parties compete by attacking issues, not just each other. Returning substance and civility to Parliament will require the collaboration of all parties, but leadership counts.

Under a Liberal government, new restrictions will be placed on Prime Ministerial power, particularly by placing procedural limitations on the prime minister’s power to prorogue.

Modernizing the Voting System

In the 2008 federal election, voter turnout in Canada dipped to an all-time low of less than 59 percent. Most discouragingly, in recent years Canada’s youngest voters have consistently had the lowest turn-out and studies tell us we can no longer count on non-voters becoming voters as they grow older.

The internet is revolutionizing many facets of life for most Canadians. It is time to harness its power to bring electoral participation closer to citizens. A Liberal government will direct Elections Canada to develop an online voting option, starting with a pilot project for individuals serving overseas in the Canadian Armed Forces and the federal public service, and post-secondary students living outside their home ridings. The pilot will support a broader discussion with Canadians about an online voting option for every voter.

Protection from Digital Threats.

Just as openness and transparency are the sources of boundless innovation and creativity on the Internet, these same features are too often exploited for criminal purposes causing significant personal and economic disruption, harm to children, and even threats to national security. A Liberal government will make security a priority in Digital Canada, working to advance it with the private sector and other governments at home and abroad.