Federal strategy appears to mask rules that will reshape Canadians’ rights over personal property

Michael Geist
Sun

In 2004, the Supreme Court of Canada issued a landmark copyright decision in a battle between the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Ontario legal bar association, and CCH Canadian, a leading legal publisher.

The court was faced with a dispute over an old technology — photocopying in a law library — and in a unanimous decision it ruled that the underlying purpose of copyright law is to serve the public interest. That interest, reasoned Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, is best served by balancing both user rights and creator rights.

On Thursday, Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner delivered what amounts to a stinging rebuke to the Supreme Court’s copyright vision of public interest and balance. After months of internal discussions (though precious little public consultation), the government unveiled its much-anticipated copyright reform bill.

Casting aside the concerns of major business, education, and consumer groups, the bill seeks to dramatically tilt Canadian law toward greater enforcement and restrictions on the use of digital content, leading Liberal industry critic Scott Brison to warn that it could result in a “police state.”

Prentice’s strategy appears to have been to include a series of headline-grabbing provisions that would attract the support of the Canadian public and simultaneously mask rules that will reshape Canadians’ rights over their personal property.

Accordingly, the bill includes a time-shifting provision that legalizes recording of television programs, a private copying of music provision that allows consumers to copy music onto their iPods, and a format-shifting provision that permits transferring content from analog to digital formats.

While those provisions sound attractive, Canadians would do well to read the fine print. The new rules are subject to a host of limitations — Canadians can’t retain recorded programs and backing up DVDs is not permitted — that lessen their attractiveness. More worrisome are the “anti-circumvention provisions,” which undermine not only these new consumer rights but also hold the prospect of locking Canadians out of their own digital content.

The law creates a blanket prohibition on picking the digital locks (often referred to as circumventing technological protection measures) that frequently accompany consumer products such as CDs, DVDs, and electronic books. In other words, Canadians that seek that to circumvent those products — even if the Copyright Act permits their intended use — will now violate the law.

While this sounds technical, circumvention is not uncommon. Under the Prentice bill, transferring music from a copy-protected product to an iPod could violate the law. So too could efforts to play a region-coded DVD from a non-Canadian region or students’ attempts to copy-and-paste content from some electronic books.

The bill includes a few limited circumvention exceptions for privacy, encryption research, interoperable computer programs and security, yet the exceptions are largely illusory since the software programs needed to pick the digital lock in order to protect privacy or engage in research are banned.

Canadians should therefore check the fine print again — the law suggests that they can protect their privacy, but renders the distribution of the tools to do so illegal.

The need to read the fine print does not end there — a new statutory damage award of $500 for personal use infringement applies to music downloading that many believe is legal, while it does not cover uploading files onto peer-to-peer networks or even posting videos to YouTube. Similarly, a provision designed to allow librarians to create digital copies for patrons suffers from an exception that requires the digital copy to self-destruct within five days, effectively turning librarians into digital locksmiths.

Had Prentice and Verner respected the Supreme Court’s emphasis on balance and the public interest, they could have easily avoided this one-sided approach.

Canada’s earlier copyright bill, which died on the order paper in 2005, along with the approach in countries such as New Zealand, has identified a more balanced framework that preserves user rights by only prohibiting circumvention where the underlying purpose is to infringe copyright.

That approach ensures that the law targets commercial piracy rather than consumer property.

Instead, their self-described “made in Canada” solution actually looks an awful lot like the much-criticized U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Once Canadians read the fine print on this bill, many may demand that the government go back to the drawing board.

Michael Geist holds the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Faculty of Law. He created the Fair Copyright for Canada Facebook group that has over 42,000 members and advocates for balanced copyright reform. He can be reached at [email protected] or online at www.michaelgeist.ca.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Law would force airlines to compensate people for poor service

Tobin Dalrymple
Sun

OTTAWA — A private member’s motion calling for an “airline passenger bill of rights” received unanimous support in the House of Commons Thursday, setting the stage for what some hope will be legislation and new regulations to force airlines to compensate passengers for bad flying experiences.

In a 249-0 vote, the House approved a motion to model an air passenger bill of rights after those in Europe and those being debated in the U.S. The motion comes amid consumer watchdog warnings that cost-cutting actions of airlines affect consumers in the form of lengthy flight delays, overbooked or bumped flights, baggage losses and flight interruptions.

Michael Janigan of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre said consumers bear the brunt of airlines “cost-crunching . . . [the motion] arises out of a whole host of problems that have become manifest in this decade with airlines and their efforts to implement cost-cutting measures.”

But officials with Air Canada and Westjet say it is unfair to pin all the blame on airlines for passenger disruptions. They say any new legislation should look at the entire “supply chain” involved in flight — not just the airlines — such as border and airport security authorities.

“If the entire supply chain, through customs and immigration and the security checkpoints, are not in step to protect the passengers, to make sure they can get on their way, then we believe that the legislation has missed the mark,” said Richard Bartrem, a Westjet spokesman.

The motion’s sponsor, Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal MP Gerry Byrne, said he’s heard “grumblings” the government may not follow the spirit of the motion, but said he is optimistic it will, given the unanimous support it received.

“What we are calling on is the government to bring forward a package of new legislative and regulatory measures that actually enhance protection for consumer passengers, not simply repackage the old stuff,” said Byrne.

Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon has asked the Canadian Transportation Agency to “publicize passenger rights of Canadians, in both official languages, as a way to enforce those rights” already in existence under the Canadian Transportation Act, said Transport spokeswoman Katherine White.

Unlike any legislation in Canada, Europe‘s airline passenger bill of rights, enacted in 2005, establishes minimum penalties — about $600 — for airlines if a passenger is bumped from his flight or it’s delayed. Similar legislation and regulations currently are being debated in the U.S.

Both Byrne and Janigan suggest the issues passengers face exceed mere inconveniences and can be serious infractions on human rights. They each cited examples of passengers being stranded on the tarmac, unable to exit the airplane for hours, with limited access to water, food and restrooms.

“Obviously, in extreme circumstances, it is extremely exasperating and potentially unhealthy for the passengers onboard the aircraft,” said Janigan.

Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick said the problem isn’t as severe as some might suggest.

“The vast, vast majority of customers get to the airport on time, with their bags, and they go away satisfied. So I think there is a matter of perception,” he said. “We really are striving to offer the best service to everybody — we have a vested interest in that.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

Other

The federal government has introduced a controversial bill it says balances the rights of copyright holders and consumers — but it opens millions of Canadians to huge lawsuits, prompting critics to warn it will create a “police state.”

“We are confident we have developed the proper framework at this point in time,” Minister of Industry Jim Prentice told a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday. “This bill reflects a win-win approach.”

However, Liberal industry critic Scott Brison blasted the government for its lack of consultation with Canadian stakeholders and for not considering the implications of the bill if it passes.

“There’s no excuse for why the government has not consulted broadly the diverse stakeholders,” he said. “The government has not thought this through. It has not thought about how it will enforce these provisions.”

“There’s a fine line between protecting creators and a police state.”

Bill C-61 spells out consumers’ rights in how they are allowed to copy media and clears up some grey areas. Existing laws do not specifically allow consumers to copy books, newspapers, periodicals, photographs, videocassettes and music. The new bill would expressly allow them to make one copy of each item per device owned, such as a computer or MP3 player. The bill would also expressly allow consumers to record television and radio programs for later viewing.

The Conservatives’ bill, however, also contains an anti-circumvention clause that will make it illegal to break digital locks on copyrighted material, which critics say could trump all of the new allowances. CD and DVD makers could put copy protections on their discs, or television networks could attach technological flags to programs that would prevent them from being recorded onto TiVos and other personal video recorders.

Cellphones would also be locked down, so when consumers buy a device from one carrier, they would be unable to use it with another. Breaking any of these locks could result in lawsuits seeking up to $20,000 in damages.

University of Ottawa internet law professor Michael Geist, a vocal opponent of the legislation, said the anti-circumvention clause invalidates all the other new provisions.

“They’ve got a few headline-grabbing reforms but the reality is those are also undermined by this anti-circumvention legislation. They’ve essentially provided digital rights to the U.S. and entertainment lobby and a few analog rights to Canadians,” Geist told CBCNews.ca. “The truth of the matter is the reforms are laden with all sorts of limitations and in some cases rendered inoperable.”

Cory Doctorow, co-editor of the influential Boing Boing blog, said the anti-circumvention clause will lead to a revival of digital rights management, or the software that prevents media from being copied. The entertainment industry has for the past few years been moving away from protecting its content with DRM because consumers have shied away from buying restricted media.

“You have to wonder what they’re smoking on Parliament Hill if they think there’s this compelling need for DRM, given that the marketplace seems to be rejecting it left, right and centre,” he told CBCNews.ca.

Canada Revenue Agency unable to deliver nearly 40,000 cheques to their rightful owners

Tim Shufelt
Sun

OTTAWA — Despite its best efforts to throw around millions in tax money, sometimes the federal government just can’t seem to give it away.

Tax specialists at the Canada Revenue Agency are trying to distribute millions of dollars rightly belonging to Canadian taxpayers, with mixed success.

Over the past 12 years, more than $25.4 million in undeliverable tax returns have piled up in a government bank account.

Almost 40,000 cheques, averaging $657 each, have yet to find their way back to their rightful owners.

Most commonly, tax money cannot be delivered when a person files their return, moves and forgets to provide the government with a new address.

“If you’re moving, when you already have so many things you’re thinking about, you have to remember to update your information with the CRA,” said agency spokeswoman Catherine Jolicoeur.

Others fail to plan for their estates properly before they die. Still others simply forget to cash their cheques, Jolicoeur said.

“If you finally find it in your drawer, and say, ‘Oops, I didn’t cash this,’ you can cash it two years later, you can cash it five years later, it’s not staledated,” she said.

Similarly, it’s never too late for Canadians estranged from their tax refunds to arrange a reunion with their long-lost money, Jolicoeur said.

As long as they can identify themselves, individuals owed refunds can request a reissued cheque from the CRA.

Otherwise, it may remain forever in a government-run orphanage for abandoned money — a consolidated revenue account.

But the agency is not waiting for people to come forward to claim their own money, she added.

Once a cheque is returned to sender, one of the dozens of tax centres located across the country is tasked with keeping track of an individual’s address changes.

However, privacy laws prevent the government from sharing change of address information across departments, Jolicoeur said.

Over time, however, the agency is able to whittle down the number of undeliverable cheques for each given year.

For 2007, which still remains an open tax year, 11,112 refunds totalling $8.2 million remain to be sent out.

For the 1996 tax year, however, 1,001 cheques remain unclaimed totalling $529,156.

But the agency’s efforts are less and less successful the longer the money sits in a bank account.

In more than nine years of trying to distribute about 2,800 undeliverable tax cheques worth almost $1.2 million from 1997, for example, half of that money is still unclaimed.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Taxman giving you a hard time?

Ray Turchansky
Province

EDMONTON — An interesting new service called The Canadian Tax Audit Protection Plan is being offered to taxpayers who have caught the attention of the Canada Revenue Agency.

Many taxpayers have been receiving their Notices of Assessment from CRA, saying all is well with their income tax return, so far. But even an attached cheque for your calculated refund amount doesn’t mean you are out of the woods.

A few months later you may receive a follow-up letter, either saying CRA has adjusted your return to reflect incorrect or missing information — such as T-slip income you failed to report — or asking to see medical, education, moving or child-care receipts for verification.

The latter is often done randomly, or when you make a first-time claim or for an amount much greater than usual.

Make copies of any originals you send to CRA; one of my tax clients is still in limbo because the copy of the T2202A education slip sent to CRA went missing.

And send the originals within 30 days of being asked; another client didn’t send medical receipts and was reassessed back tax and interest until remitting the receipts six months later.

But chances are your original slips and receipts will be verified by CRA and returned to you, usually with no changes made to your return.

However, if you are reassessed or even face an audit because a claimed deduction or credit is disallowed or reduced, and if you cannot understand why, you should go to your accountant or tax preparer.

It may turn out that an amount was included as business rather than personal income, or that one expense claim included two or three expenses you had listed separately.

The Canadian Tax Audit Protection Plan is being offered by the Toronto-based law firm Sixth Sphere Services Professional Corp., founded by David Douglas Robertson of the law firm Gasken Martineau and R.D. Bell, former judge of the Tax Court of Canada.

Robertson says a main benefit of the plan is that it is “designed to make such legal services affordable for those individuals who generally could not afford them.”

After people prepare their tax returns, they can apply for membership in the plan through their accountant or financial planner or online at www.ctapp.ca. If their 2007 tax return is audited by CRA within three years of it being received, the plan member is entitled to up to 15 hours of legal services from the Sixth Sphere to advise and assist with the audit, including legal representation before the Tax Court of Canada.

Robertson says the fee for a taxpayer to join the plan, based on his or her sources of income plus types of deductions and credits, generally starts at $20 for an average taxpayer and $50 for people who are self-employed.

The plan is worth considering if you are making tax claims that CRA may contest, and which cannot be explained away by producing slips and receipts, or through an explanation from your accountant. But you should ask beforehand how the plan would cover your situation.

For instance, the plan might seem of interest to people who contribute to tax shelters.

But Robertson writes that “the 15 hours of legal services provided under the plan do not apply [given the virtual certainty that the tax shelter will be reviewed and audited]. However, members are still entitled to a 20-per-cent reduction of our normal hourly rates should they wish to consult us regarding the CRA’s reassessment of the tax shelter.”

He notes that most tax shelters include an escrow fund to help defend it against a CRA challenge.

An interesting angle is that the plan says it extends solicitor-client privilege to discussions between you and your accountant for the purpose of obtaining legal advice under the plan.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

A year ago, Tourism Vancouver’s annual meeting was rocked by suggestions the city’s $883.6-million convention centre project could become a white elephant attracting few big conventions.

What a difference a year makes.

Tourism Vancouver officials told the 2008 annual meeting Tuesday the expanded convention centre has already attracted enough new business to make 2011 the best year ever for city convention bookings.

“We are thrilled with the range and extent of new convention bookings for the expanded convention centre, “ outgoing Tourism Vancouver chair Smith Munro told the meeting.

” . . . The [convention centre] expansion is on its way to being the busiest meeting place in all of Canada. The coming decade will see Vancouver as the world’s gathering place, time and again.”

Major conventions booked for the expanded facility in 2011 include the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Tourism Vancouver says confirmed bookings in 2011, combined with those it is still bidding for, could attract 120,000 delegates and 300,000 room nights in 2011.

Incoming Tourism Vancouver chair Geoffrey Howes told the meeting Vancouver has made a short list of four potential hosts for an unnamed “mammoth” convention in 2020 that would attract more than 50,000 delegates and create an economic impact of $57.7 million. The winning bid will be announced later this year.

The upbeat discussion contrasts to remarks made at the meeting last year, when Fairmont Hotels & Resorts regional vice-president Phil Barnes said lacklustre bookings threatened to make the new centre “the biggest empty ballroom in town.”

The expanded convention centre will triple the amount of meeting space at the Canada Place facility when it opens in March 2009. It will be used as the international broadcast centre for the 2010 Olympics.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

But 21 centres being built in the U.S.; 36 being remodeled

John Bermingham
Province

The man hired six months ago to turn a dollar from the expanded Vancouver Convention Centre said bookings have increased 116 per cent since last year.

But Warren Buckley, president and CEO of PavCo, the Crown corporation that runs the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, added that competition for the convention dollar is getting tougher.

Buckley told a Vancouver Board of Trade luncheon Friday that the expanded convention centre will rank among the Top 5 in the world.

“What you have here is something very special,” said Buckley. “You already have the infrastructure built. You already have a very special location. Vancouver is easy to get to. Vancouver is attractive. I think it’s a winning formula.”

Buckley said the spectacular setting will give Vancouver an edge over stiff global competition.

The new convention centre will have 500,000 square feet of meeting space, and includes a green roof and a ballroom with glass walls. Perched over water, the vista takes in the North Shore mountains in an ecologically sensitive setting.

“This is unparalleled,” he said. “This doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world.”

There are 21 new convention centres also being built in the U.S., along with 36 undergoing renovation. And in China, 100 convention centres are under construction.

Buckley said the market can’t sustain so many convention centres chasing the same buck.

Buckley said Vancouver should be looking to Europe for new customers, where large international bodies are based, and not rely on U.S. business.

“They’re larger numbers. They spend more. They stay longer. And they’re prepared to cross borders,” he said.

Buckley said conventions are almost fully booked in 2010, and 2011 will be “the best convention year Vancouver has ever had.”

According to Tourism Vancouver, there are 36 definite bookings for citywide conventions up to 2012, and 37 tentative.

Buckley said that even if convention centres are 80-per-cent full, they can still lose money.

“My goal is to make sure there’s a fine balance between the level of occupancy, and the bottom line,” he said. “You can fill that place every day with events that don’t drive economic dollars.”

Buckley said the convention centre won’t be able to pay for its $883-million cost — most of it borne by taxpayers — for years.

Nearly $400 million in overruns at the convention centre have almost doubled the total cost since the ground was broken in 2004.

“It’s not unusual for a facility to cost this much money,” said Buckley. “The cost is clearly in line with what I think other international projects are [costing].”

Buckley said the Vancouver convention centre will be ready in March 2009, and will hold its first conference in mid-April.

In October next year, the venue will be handed over to Vancouver 2010 for the Olympics, where it will be used as the main media centre, and returned in March 2010.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Jeff Lee
Sun

VANCOUVER – Some of the last vestiges of Vancouver‘s industrial history along False Creek will give way today to the opening of a new 600-metre seawall in front of the Olympic village.

For decades False Creek was part of an industrial district that featured heavy-metal industries, shipbuilders and even a barrel-maker.

Over the years, as condominium developments have moved in, much of the creek’s waterfront has been redeveloped to incorporate a seawall walkway that links the city’s west side with Stanley Park.

But until the Olympic village at the southeast end of the creek was created, pedestrians had to contend with traversing through an industrial wasteland between Cambie Bridge and Science World.

All that has now changed. The new seawall — which Mayor Sam Sullivan and Park Board chairwoman Korina Houghton will open today — is one of the last pieces in a 22-km waterfront pedestrian walkway and cycling lane that runs from Kitsilano Beach to Coal Harbour.

Only a few spots along Coal Harbour are still under development, and they will be ready in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Only a concrete plant on Granville Island still serves as a reminder of the creek’s once-strategic value to heavy industry.

Last year city council approved a $14-million budget to rebuild the waterfront at the southeast end and install the seawall.

In May 2007 it gave a $12.4 million contract to Wilco Landscape Contractors.

The latest section of the seawall includes two bridges, including a 40-metre steel truss and an eight-metre clear span.

It incorporates a man-made island and saltwater wetlands in an effort to bring sea life back to what was once one of the most polluted waters in the Lower Mainland.

The city also planted more than 200 trees and used natural features such as beach logs and boulders that were reclaimed from the site.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Community centre will play host to concerts, public market

Frances Bula
Sun

VANCOUVER – Staff at the Roundhouse Community Centre once looked glumly across the road at the Urban Fare grocery store, where people were merrily drinking coffee and hanging around in the sunshine.

Meanwhile, the large open plaza in front of their centre was a dead zone that no one used except as a garbage receptacle.

That is all destined to change, after the Vancouver park board approved an innovative new plan for what’s called the turntable plaza, which will transform the area into an outdoor performance space that can hold 500-750 people for everything from plays to concerts to public markets. The plaza, which is a historic relic of the old railyards and train-turning table that used to be on the site, will see a crane erected in the middle of it, from which cables will be suspended to support tent material, lights and lanterns.

“This is a big win for the arts community,” said park-board commissioner Spencer Herbert, who credited the community centre’s board for endorsing the unusual solution. “It’s visionary, it’s creative. It’s such a multi-functional design that it will be used heavily. It’s something the downtown needed.”

Herbert said that part or possibly all of the money for the project may come from Vanoc to create a legacy project.

“Hopefully, we will be able to get the whole thing donated so it can truly be an Olympic legacy.”

Margaret Watts, the centre’s supervisor of recreation services, said everyone hopes the new design will turn things around.

“Our biggest hopes for this site is that we will turn it into a welcoming public plaza.”

The design was well received by local residents, who live all around the circular plaza. Watts said any events put on there will aim to minimize noise and light that might bother them.

The design was created by Nick Milkovich Architects and Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg landscape consultants.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

 

New $20-million design aims to inject new life, increase street traffic

Frances Bula
Sun

The city’s most fought-over street is about to receive a $20-million makeover, complete with a redesigned civic plaza, light poles, custom-made street furniture, a star-studded walk of fame and new pavement design.

Granville Street has now moved past its three-decade fight over whether to bring cars back and is ready to bloom, says the director of a local business association.

“In the last five to 10 years, we’ve seen huge changes on the street,” said Charles Gauthier of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association. “This is just going to spur more of it on. And it’s amazing how the design has won a lot of approval.”

Gauthier said people are looking forward to seeing the street and plaza at Georgia and Granville used for more city festivals.

Granville Street used to be one the city’s premier streets, with a famous row of neon signs that advertised its theatres and restaurants. The street, which always had a seedier stretch at the south end filled with residential hotels and an open drug market, started to decline when underground malls began to suck businesses off the street in the 1970s. It was converted to a car-free mall in 1974 with wide, curving sidewalks. Some local businesses conducted a crusade for years to reverse that.

Granville has had more life to it in recent years — too much, some would say — with the city’s decision to create a Granville Entertainment Zone and concentrate bars and nightclubs in a three-block stretch. As well, a number of businesses have come in or re-located to be accessible from the street, such as Holt Renfrew, Winners and Future Shop.

But the street itself remained dilapidated.

After many rounds of reports and counter-reports, city staff and Granville businesses agreed on a redesign done by American street-design guru Allan Jacobs. That redesign has straightened out the sidewalks and converted them to “flex boulevards” that can be used for parking sometimes and pedestrians at other times.

The street furniture will be replaced for the first time since 1974 and the street will be lined with tubular lights.

Business owners are hoping that the Sears store’s blank wall can be used as a screen for video or image projections.

Gauthier said there are still some things that need to be worked out with the project.

The traffic should be slowed down, for one. “It doesn’t make sense to have buses and vehicles zooming down the street which is designed to attract pedestrian traffic,” said Gauthier.

As well, the city and downtown groups need to work together to program activities for the plaza.

Gauthier noted that council has unanimously approved a motion calling on the city to work with civic groups to enliven the new civic plaza using public art.

“That space won’t animate itself. It will take money,” he said.

One idea being proposed by his association is to collect old neon signs that once adorned Granville that have been stored by the city or are in private hands and have them remounted.

Council approved the $20-million plan this week. As with many construction projects recently, costs have skyrocketed. The city is hoping that TransLink will pay half the bill.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008