Canadian copyright czar forced to turn away industry bribes

By Cory Doctorow at 9:21 am Wednesday, Nov 8

The Canadian Tory minister who regulates the copyright industry has canceled a fundraiser sponsored by the companies she is supposed to oversee. Bev Oda won the Heritage Minister seat after the ouster of Sam Bulte, the Liberal Party minister who took enormous campaign contributions from the industry she oversaw. Oda, too, received these contributions, and had planned to let the broadcasters in her putative charge raise even more money for her. She denied any wrongdoing in Parliament when this issue was raised by New Democrat Heritage critic Charlie Angus, but canceled the event anyway.

It may be common for US committee chairs to take money from the companies they are supposed to oversee, but this is not the way it's done in Canada. The US copyright cartel has managed to export more than their cartoons and magazines and pop-stars to Canada -- they've also exported their corruption.

Yesterday, NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus called attention to the fundraiser, noting that it promised to provide access to both Oda and guest speaker Industry Minister Maxime Bernier. He summed it up as "the broadcast review happens in two weeks. The cash grab happens next week. Why is the minister using her office to trade political access for political contributions?"

Oda responded by arguing that she was following the law ("I have observed every rule existing right now"). Hours later, she did an about face and cancelled the fundraiser. This should have been obvious - the Minister of Canadian Heritage simply cannot have a fundraiser hosted on her behalf by her friends in the broadcast industry.

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