My fellow Canadians, I'd like to propose a three-pronged approach to dealing with our political leaders in response to Bill C-61.

I suggest that we:

1. educate ourselves and each other on all matters related to copy rights and intellectual property,
2. build working and beneficial relationships with like-minded people representing various interests affected by the bill, and
3. put together a team of legal experts who can represent us. We need a group that can stand in our place among the special interest groups. Our political leaders are being pressured currently by large holders of content portfolios. They pressure the government for changes in the laws that reflect their long-term interests and business goals. We need to ensure that the interests of ordinary Canadian Citizens are given due consideration when legal language is being drawn-up for consideration by our representatives in Parliament.

1. Education

One of the realities that we face as Canadians is that our democracy is under attack from within. We hurt ourselves and our political leaders when we fail to properly inform ourselves about important issues. When our leaders hear from us and we make inaccurate or entirely wrong statements concerning an issue – or even if we consider only our personal perspective without giving due consideration to the needs of others – we earn their failure to support us.

Our democracy depends on our ability to find out what's going on and work together for a better future. If we take the time to properly inform ourselves about a political issue we will be better able to work together, to direct our efforts towards common goals so that we can do good for one-another.

In the case of Bill C-61 we have a unique opportunity. This law will have a direct impact on the lives of virtually every young person in the country. Our youth have a clear understanding of the importance of this issue to them – so let's help them get involved. Let's make it easy for them to find out about the issues – not just from a personal perspective (my wants and needs,) but from an administrative perspective as well (managing the rights of all Canadians and the resulting benefits to our economy.)

Finally, we need to make sure we get a clear picture in our minds of the relationship between our great Canadian nation and other nations throughout the world. We need to understand our obligations to other nations and how our laws impact our trade relationships with those other nations.

Throughout all this, there is one important detail that we need to remember: At the provincial, federal and international levels there are problems with lots of laws. These laws have a direct impact on our rights and freedoms as individuals and we need to work to improve them throughout our lives. We need to look at what the future holds for us and what we need to do to brighten that future.

Bill C-61 is not the beginning or the end of our troubles. If it passes with all its flaws it will not signal that the sky has fallen. After Bill C-61 there will be U.S., E.U. and W.T.O. laws and policies that need to be addressed by informed and politically active citizens – so let's make sure that we prepare ourselves with the tools we need to fight this battle and the many that will continue to come our way over the years.

2. Working Relationships

To properly build our collective future, we need to recognize the accomplishments that allow us to be where we are today: For the most part, Canadians are willing to hear each other out and work together. Let us continue in this tradition.

Let's take the time to understand the needs of the various groups of people interested in intellectual property and the copying of it. Let's find out what we have in common with them and what we can do together with them.

Digital Restrictions

You may not have noticed news reports over the past many weeks of Apple's iTunes division trying to negotiate permission to sell music files without digital restrictions (DR.) Things didn't quite work out the way we wanted them to but the direction was very clear: emusic.com has already negotiated contracts with a large number of labels to allow the distribution of high-quality MP3 files that do not suffer from any digital restrictions. In addition, their average price per song is in the $0.30 to $0.50 range – about half the price that Apple's iTunes division is charging.

The simple fact of the matter is that there are new music groups all over the world who are trying to sell their music online. Music vendors like emusic.com are telling them – clearly – that customers don't want digital restrictions. The musicians are agreeing to sell their works without DR and they are making profits.

With or without unreasonable laws concerning DR we need to work with these people. We need to get in touch with people like Steve Jobs and any musicians who sell digital musicn with or without DR. Let's tell them about who we are and what we're doing - let's get their input and win their support. Eventually the people who feel that they need the DR will realize that they don't need to fear doing business with Canadians.

Respect for Copy Rights

Unfortunately, the situation changes when you look outside of the music industry. Most television programs on DVD, for example, are owned by holding companies. They've been building huge portfolios of content purchased from original producers and often from other holding companies. The people who run these companies don't take a leak without permission from their lawyers – and their lawyers are working hard to give the impression that their services are needed.

To properly build a working relationship with many content providers we may need to be creative about our approach. Owners of T.V. shows from the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's might respond better to market surveys showing that their copy rights will be respected. To achieve success with such surveys we will no-doubt need to start by educating ourselves about the long term importance of defending copy rights.

As I write this there is no doubt in my mind that proper market surveys (even before an awareness campaign,) would show that Canadians are largely respectful of copy rights and represent a valuable market to owners of any intellectual property. While it is true that there are many young people who copy music and DVD's, it is also true that most people buy CD's and DVD's legally. We surf Amazon.ca, we download from iTunes.com and emusic.com, we browse the mountains of reasonably priced stock at Walmart and Futureshop and we troll through the many boxes of used CD's and DVD's at Video Rental outlets, music shops, dollar stores and pawn shops. I know because I do all those things and I see you, my neighbors, doing them too.

Owners of content have been promoting all kinds of nasty numbers about thieving scoundrels and their negative effects on the music and video industry – but the serious observer sees a different story: Most people go out of their way to buy legal copies of the things they find on the web.

A case in point: There is a music DVD that sells for about $50 at HMV called “Concert for George” that I did not know about until I saw a clip on YouTube.com. When I saw that clip – with Billy Preston and Eric Clapton singing “My Sweet Lord” with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Dhani Harrison – I ran out and bought the DVD. Once again, let me say clearly: I would never have known about that DVD without the clip on YouTube.com.

Note that the same DVD is available from Amazon.ca for about $40 – but I paid about $50 from HMV. I had somehow gotten the idea into my head that the DVD was selling for $20 – so the wonderful staff at HMV logged into a workstation for me and opened up a browser to let me check the price at Amazon.ca. HMV was packed with customers and I'm sure that all of them visit YouTube.com from time to time before buying products.

The simple truth is that we Canadians are excellent customers. The shops we buy from and the producers of the content that we enjoy are our friends. We need to get together with all our friends. We need to work with them, enlist their support for the legal language that we feel would be better able to direct our law enforcement agencies over the coming years.

Respect for Political Leadership

Throughout all this our goal is always to guide and assist our political leaders as they represent us in building our great nation.

We often look to examples of failure. Labeling of foods containing Genetically Modified Organisms is a good example – a total failure. But who is to blame for this failure? We have a vast array of government bureaucrats who deal with food related issues in the country – but who represents the needs of the people? There may be a special interest group here and there but do we support them? Nope.

Industry, on the other hand, works hand in hand with the bureaucrats on a daily basis. When leaders in industry speak – our political leaders listen. This is because leaders in industry have a clear and logical message to delivery and they have bridges over which those messages can be carried.

The sad truth is that we try to label our political leaders as villains when the reality is very different: We sabotage our own best interests by failing to serve our politicians properly.

• If we properly inform ourselves about the matters that our leaders must deal with, we will be able to communicate with them in a manner that they can appreciate.
• If we properly build bridges between ourselves and our representatives, we will be able to reach them with logic and reason that they will find compelling and will not be able to disregard.
• If we properly educate each other on matters of significance, our political leadership will become aware of our common thinking and understanding – so they won't be so quick to risk earning our displeasure by failing to balance their perspectives on important issues. Perhaps more importantly: Our leaders themselves, both our political leaders and our leaders in industry, will be aware of the understanding and commitment of the citizens of this great nation and they will not need so much prodding to respect our wishes. There are already many examples of industry getting on-board with community when the two find common ground. We need only take steps to encourage the process to take its course more quickly.

Note that most of the above has nothing to do with Music or Videos – it's all about the very things that make Canada the great nation that it is: working together, building together, serving one-another sincerely.

Everybody likes to repeat the old saying, “Love makes the world go 'round!” Now let's complete the statement by reminding ourselves that “True Love is a Work of Love,” and “True Love is Hard Work!”

Let's get to it.

3. Legal Representation

Over the past several decades, in the specific case of Copyright Law, virtually all the legal language that has been written and incorporated into law was either written by or prompted by corporate lawyers working for holding companies. Our political representatives have been driven by economic imperatives to update the laws – but our citizens have played essentially no role in the process.

We need to create an organization to represent our needs. We need to hire some lawyers for that organization and we need to get them to prepare the text of the laws that we want to see enacted for the benefit of all Canadians.

Again, for this to work we need to get together with all stakeholders and work with them. We need to recognize their varied needs, work out solutions and, most importantly, educate ourselves so that we are ready and able to respect the laws that we write with the help of our lawyers.

Finally, our organization should keep track of the bridges we've built both with our representatives in Ottawa and our friends in industry. Let's get the party started and keep it going as long as we can.

Without taking anything away from the preceeding statement, we should also use our organization to track copy rights and their expiry. The concept of fair use must remain valid today and forever. We need to make it clear that this is not a threat to the profitability of industry. When copy rights to a work expire and the work goes into the public domain as provided by law, we need somebody to recognize the transition in a legally defensible way. Ideally, our government should establish a repository into which we can hold our collective assets until they become public property - then distribute them to us. However, in the absence of such a repository, we need to:

• Establish the parameters under which the repository would operate
• Help individual Canadians maintain their personal libraries in a manner that would facilitate the donation of thier personal assets to the future repository
• Work towards the establishment of private repositories and, eventually, a public repository.

Note that there are groups of people who are involved in this sort of activity already - we need to find them and work with them as much as is reasonably possible.

The War Rages on

In conclusion, let me say again that Bill C-61 is not the real issue here – it's just a battle in the midst of a larger war. The war is not about our right to listen to music or watch old T.V. Shows – it's a war that we must fight against our lack of participation in the political process. The battle that we fight today will be won when we take our rightful places as citizens involved in the maintenance of our democracy.

In nature we recognize that everything has a tendency to fall apart if left to itself. The principal is recognized as Entropy in all branches of science. We understand that the roofs over our heads will begin to leak if we don't patch them every twenty years. We understand that our cars will break down if we don't take them in for oil changes and the 100,000km check-up. For some reason, though, we don't recognize our obligation to maintain our own freedom.

Most Canadians think that democracy is all about casting a vote at election time. Nothing could be farther from the truth. In reality, the vote is the last step in a cycle that must repeat every four years. The first step in the cycle is the effort that we make to educate ourselves.

Let's get started!