Maclean's, Canada's national news-magazine, has picked up the story of the Member of Parliament who proposed American-style US copyright laws and whose campaign is being financed by multinational entertainment companies.
Sam Bulte is the Liberal MP who is a favorite for Heritage Minister if the Liberal Party take the upcoming election. She exploded at a recent all-candidates meeting when asked if she'd take a pledge not to receive campaign funds from the industries she's likely to end up regulating, promising not to be "intimidated" by Michael Geist (a law professor and Toronto Star columnist), "user-rights zealots" (like the provincial education ministers who've objected to her proposals) and "Electronic Frontier Foundation members."
In supporting stricter copyright laws, Bulte has taken a stand on a highly divisive issue among computer users and artists, groups that make up a significant constituency in her riding. Indeed, one of boingboing's editors, the novelist Cory Doctorow, happens to be a former resident. The attention that blog has given to the fundraising story is one of the reasons the issue has gained such momentum, not only in Canada but internationally. "Her legislative history is an attempt to import the worst elements of the American copyright system to Canada," said Doctorow, who now lives in London, England. "I don't know that she's been bought, I just know that it looks pretty dirty."
(Thanks, Michael!)
