Justin Trudeau is certainly an improvement on outgoing Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He's unlikely to go on burning Canada's archives and warring on its scientists, and he'll probably stop ignoring the murder of hundreds of aboriginal women and girls, and he's not a racist asshole who plays to other racist assholes to keep power.

Yesterday's Canadian Parliamentary session included a moment of dramatic idiocy, when the Tory Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dean Del Mastro climbed to his hind limbs to declare that wanting to rip your CDs to listen to them on your MP3 player was like buying a pair of socks and then stealing a pair of shoes to go with them. — Read the rest

A group of Canadian copyfighters produced this mini-documentary, "C-61," about the proposed new Canadian copyright law, which the US government is pressuring Canada to pass (that's why the USA added Canada to a nonsensical list of pirate nations). Previous attempts to pass this bill have been a disgrace — famously, former Industry Minister Jim Prentice refused to discuss the bill with Canadian record labels, artists, tech firms, or telcos, but did meet with American and multinational entertainment and software giants to allow them to give their input. — Read the rest

The lobby for US-style copyrights in Canada has gone into overdrive, recruiting a powerful Member of Parliament and turning public forums on copyright into one-sided love-fests for restrictive copyright regimes that criminalize everyday Canadians.

Dan McTeague is the Liberal MP from Pickering-Scarborough East, and he's set to become the successor to Sam Bulte, the MP who lost her job for funding her campaign to get elected and appointed Heritage Minister by lining her pockets with massive donations from the very industries she would have ended up regulating. — Read the rest

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. — Read the rest

Remember Sam Bulte, the Canadian Liberal Member of Parliament who lost her seat after her voters figured out that she was raising money from the entertainment industry and then delivering pro-entertainment-industry laws that creamed the public to line the pockets of her buddies? — Read the rest

The new Canadian Heritage Minister had her election campaign funded by big entertainment companies, the very companies she's supposed to be overseeing in office.

In the last Canadian elections, we kicked out Sam Bulte, a Liberal Party candidate favored for the spot of Heritage Minister. — Read the rest

A coalition of copyright-reforming superstar Canadian musicians paid a visit to Parliament yesterday, and won the hearts of the Members from the New Democratic Party. The Canadian Music Creators Coalition, which includes Barenaked Ladies frontman Steve Page and Andrew Cash from the Cash Brothers, spoke to Parliamentarians about the need for balance in copyright, and the insanity of suing music fans and locking them down with crippled digital music offerings. — Read the rest

Australian schools may have to pay a copyright fee every time a student is told to look at the web, if a plan from the national collecting society is successful. The Copyright Agency pays Australian authors for the photocopying that takes place on schools by randomly sampling the schools annually, collecting $31 million in fees and dispersing them to authors. — Read the rest

A Canadian trademark lawyer has posted an analysis of the Canadian Red Cross's claim that video games' use of the red cross emblem to indicate health-kits is a violation of its rights.

I've blogged twice about a Canadian Red Cross executive's misguided harassment campaign against users of the red cross symbol to indicate health services. — Read the rest

The Canadian MP whom copyfighters loved to hate has lost her job and the election. Sam Bulte was the Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Parkdale/High Park, my old riding, and she was embroiled in a scandal when it was revealed that she had financed her election campaigns at the entertainment industry's expense, and subsequently brought down proposal for extremist, US-style copyright laws. — Read the rest

A Canadian MP who is accused of being in bed with entertainment companies published an editorial defending herself in yesterday's Toronto star, large passages of which were lifted almost verbatim from publications and speeches given by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. — Read the rest

A Boing Boing reader has produced PRO-USER ZEALOT stickers that make fun of the Canadian Liberal Party Member of Parliament's denunciation of "pro-user zealots and Electronic Frontier Foundation members" at an all-candidates meeting.

Sam Bulte, whose last term in office was marked by the introduction of extremist copyright proposals that mirror the US system's failures, made the denunciation after she was asked if she would turn away funding from the entertainment companies she would be in charge of regulating should she win the election. — Read the rest

Sam Bulte, the Canadian Liberal Party MP who has been oouted for taking money from the same copyright industry whom she has rewarded with favorable lawmaking action, has threatened to sue Michael Geist, the law professor and blogger who outed her for her ethical missteps. — Read the rest

The Canadian Member of Parliament who takes campaign contributions from the copyright industries and gives back laws that serve their interests has been caught lying to her constituents on tape.

Sam Bulte, the Liberal MP for Parkdale/High Park participated in an all-candidates meeting last week in which she was questioned about her morally dubious campaign financing. — Read the rest

This week, Candadian entertainment industry execs and famous musicians are holding a $250/plate fundraising dinner for Sam Bulte, a Member of Parliament who has worked for legislation favorable to their interests and proposes to do more of the same if re-elected. — Read the rest

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. — Read the rest

Michael Geist has just published an extensive report on the impact of lobbying on copyright policy in Canada. The Canadian elections are next week, and one of the candidates standing for re-election is Heritage Minister hopeful Sam Bulte, who takes large sums of money from the entertainment industry and then delivers laws that sell out the public interest to line its pockets. — Read the rest

I've got an editorial in today's Toronto Star about Sam Bulte, the Liberal Member of Parliament who advocated for extremist copyright policies after taking giant campaign contributions from the entertainment industry.

Under Bill C-60, a similar system would repeat the sins of the DMCA's notice-and-takedown regime, allowing rights holders to force search engines to remove cached versions of pages that they allege infringe on a copyright, but without ever showing evidence of infringement.

An anonymous person whipped up this poster that makes fun of Sam Bulte, the Canadian Member of Parliament who sells out the public interest by taking big campaign checks from the copyright industries and then delivering extreme copyright laws that parallel the failed US initiatives that have resulted in a war on music fans. — Read the rest