Links to all of the platforms can be found here:

Liberal Party of Canada:

Conservative Party of Canada:

New Democratic Party of Canada:

Green Party of Canada:

Intellectual Property and Technology

CPC

• Review program that will examine whether innovation programs support Canadian companies which keep their benefits, profits and patents in Canada (as opposed to the subsidiaries of foreign multinationals), including forming an expert panel to look at policies that will strengthen Canada’s ability to capitalize on intangibles like IP and improve incentives to patent;
• Green patents – Income generated from green technology patented in Canada attracts a 5% tax break;
• Require businesses that emit greenhouse gases over limits to invest in research, development and adoption of emission-reducing technology relating to their industry (facilitated by green investment certification);
• Set up a green technology venture capital fund that will leverage up to $1 billion in private investment for Canadian green technology companies;
• Make sure that IP protection is at the heart of new trade agreements;
• Provide government re-training programs to make sure that Canada’s tech industry can continue to grow, and make sure that academic curricula reflect the demands of the labour market;
• Launch a “Canadian Clean Brand” that will allow buyers to know they are getting a product that makes a difference for the environment;
• Expand rural broadband.

GPC

• Invest in job training for the new green economy (including by eliminating post-secondary tuition);
• Establish a Guaranteed Livable Income to respond to automation disruption (among other measures meant to respond to automation);
• Establish a corporate tax on transnational e-commerce companies doing business in Canada by requiring them to register in Canada;
• Fund research for shifting from conventional to organic and regenerative farming systems;
• Protect the right of farmers to save their own seed and promote heritage seed banks and seed exchange programs;
• Support the transition of the mining sector to an innovation hub for greener technologies, including $40 million for a proposed Sudbury-based mining innovation cluster;
• Invest in scientific research and implement the full funding recommendations from Canada’s Fundamental Science Review;
• Establish a portal where all government science, including the evidence the government uses to make its decisions, is available to Canadians in a comprehensible form;
• Adopt policies similar to Europe’s to ensure that publicly-funded research is available on the portal or in open access journals;
• Invest $400 million per year into a universal broadband strategy;
• Strike a parliamentary committee to examine the implications of introducing 5G technology and make recommendations on if and how Canada should proceed;
• Guard against threats to net neutrality;
• Make Canada the global leader in AI development and regulation, including by striking a parliamentary committee to examine the range of issues related to AI and provide recommendations for a legislative and regulatory framework;
• Institute a substitute tax for large corporations that is equivalent to the income tax paid by employees who have been laid off by AI;
• Track automation on a sector-by-sector basis with the aim of funding job creation;
• Ban autonomous weapons and fight for a global pact to make them illegal;
• Enact “Right to Repair” legislation;
• Amend CRTC regulations to increase competition in the provision of cellular and internet services;
• Protect consumers and investors from fraud and theft in the cryptocurrency spheres, and direct Revenue Canada and law enforcement to develop practical methods to prevent the use of cryptocurrency for money laundering and funding terrorism;
• Create a bulk drug purchasing agency and decrease the protection period for drug patents.

LPC

• Greater labour protections for those who work through digital platforms (ride-sharing, etc.);
• Halve corporate taxes for business that develop zero-emissions clean tech;
• Universal high-speed internet (95% coverage by 2026, 100% by 2030);
• Set up a cleaner fuel technology and commercial support to connect farmers, researchers, agribusinesses, and energy companies;
• Ensure accurate labelling on fish and seafood products to enable a “boat-to-plate” traceability program;
• Invest in marine science;
• Support an international protocol to ban the development and use of fully autonomous weapons systems.

NDP

• Price caps for cell and internet bills, expand broadband internet to every community in Canada, and make sure that a basic plan is available to everyone;
• Introduce a Telecom Consumers’ Bill of Rights;
• Introduce a right to repair electronic devices;
• Ensure that Canadians have access to proactive training and retraining programs for the new economy;
• Protect Canadians against trade agreements that could increase the cost of pharmaceuticals, undermine privacy rights, or weaken cultural protections;
• Invest in driverless technology, hybrid and electric vehicles, with an emphasis on made-in-Canada cars;
• Invest in clean aviation technology development;
• Sector-specific investments in innovation and R&D, focusing on low-carbon technology;
• Review federal procurement to ensure that, whenever possible, Canadian bidders are encouraged (including projects supporting the expansion of digital government);
• Foster entrepreneurship and support Canadian start up culture, helping Canadian companies commercialize new technologies and scale-up;
• Invest in public agricultural research and data collection, and ocean science and technology;
• Support bringing innovative Canadian clean technologies to market;
• Provide support for provinces to introduce smart grid technology;
• Set up stand-alone legislation to regulate natural health products.

Cultural Policies

GPC

• Increase funding to all of Canada’s arts and culture organizations including the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada;
• Restore anti-trust laws to enable the break-up of media conglomerates;
• Close the social media platform advertising tax loophole and ensure that all government advertising is in Canadian publications;
• Invest $300 million per year in the CBC/Radio-Canada until its funding matches the per-capita funding of the BBC;
• Ensure that foreign internet broadcasters are subject to Canadian Content regulations similar to those imposed on Canadian broadcasters.

NDP

• Make sure that Canadian talent can thrive on digital and traditional platforms;
• Ensure that companies like Netflix, Facebook, and Google have to pay taxes and comply with Canadian content requirements, just like other media outlets;
• Extend support to Canadian media to assist them in making the digital transition.

LPC

• Require CBC/Radio-Canada to open up its digital platform for use by journalism start-ups and community newspapers;
• Improve access to digital collections for national museums;
• Provide new legislation that will require internet content providers to offer meaningful levels of Canadian content, contribute to the creation of Canadian content, promote the content, and make it easily accessible on their platforms;
• Increase Telefilm Canada’s budged by almost 50% per year;
• Develop a framework for repatriating Indigenous cultural property and ancestral remains.

CPC

• Support cultural industries.

Privacy

LPC

• Empower the Privacy Commissioner and move forward with ;
• Provide the right to: data portability; withdraw, remove and erase basic personal data from a platform; know how data is being used, supported by a national registry on data use or sale, and include an ability to withdraw consent; review and challenge the amount of personal data that a company or government has collected; data security; be informed when personal data is breached, including a right to compensation; be free from discrimination and harassment online;
• New Data Commissioner to oversee and regulate large digital companies;
• New regulations for social media platforms, including requirements that they remove illegal content within 24 hours.

CPC

• Introduce a Cyberbullying Accountability Act that will prohibit the use of a phone or the internet to threaten or advocate self-harm; the location of the crime will be the location where the victim is at the time the offence occurred, and the Act will include civil liability;
• Consent requirement for data collection, and a plain-language agreement requirement;
• Provide regulatory, ethical standards for the secure use of AI and the Internet of Things, as well as for other critical infrastructure sectors (like banks);
• Create a “Canada Cyber Safe” brand to allow Canadians to make educated choices about the security features of their devices, applications and appliances;
• Test and reform government cyber security.

GPC

• Require the Communications Security Establishment and CSIS to get a warrant before intruding on Canadians’ communications;

• Prohibit the routine surveillance of Canadians who protest against the government and the sharing of protester and NGO staff information with the NEB and others;

• Significantly increase the powers of the Privacy Commissioner, in particular to protect identity and personal data, and to enforce privacy laws;

• Require companies to grant access to all information they hold on an individual, and a right to be forgotten and to delete information from company databases upon request;

• Establish a parliamentary inquiry to recommend modernizing privacy laws respecting the internet of things;

• Create mandatory data breach reporting for the government, companies, banks and political parties;

• Regulate social media platforms to ensure that only actual people, with verifiable identities, are able to publish on those platforms;

• Prohibit cyber surveillance and bulk data collection by intelligence and police agencies;

• Require that ISPs can only release data when required by a warrant or in an emergency;

• Require that political parties follow the Privacy Act.

NDP

• Convene a national working group to counter online hate;
• Enhance real-time oversight of security services, fully respecting the privacy and Charter rights of all Canadians, to deal with foreign interference and espionage, terrorism and cybercrime;
• Boost the powers of the Privacy Commissioner to make and enforce orders;
• Require social media platforms to flag and remove fraudulent accounts, and to respond promptly to harassment, threats and hate speech.

Please remember to vote on October 21^st if you are able!

Peter Werhun is an IPilogue Editor and a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School

The post Where they Stand: The IPilogue Guide to the Federal Policy Platforms appeared first on IPOsgoode.

Bracing for Impact – The Artificial Intelligence Challenge (A Road Map for AI Governance in Canada)

Date: February 2, 2018

Location: Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen St. W., Toronto, Canada

Time: Conference (9:00 AM to 4:30 PM); Cocktail Reception (4:30 PM to 6:00 PM)

TO REGISTER CLICK

Registration rates are as follows:
Students: $25+HST
General Admission: $75+HST
Live WebCast: $10+HST

Speakers and Panel Chairs will be registered on a complimentary basis. Please do not register if you are a speaker or panel chair.

Recent developments in artificial intelligence, and especially machine learning technology, automated vehicles, and genetic enhancement pose a challenge to governments in Canada and abroad. At the current stage, government policy regarding the possible technological changes must be studied.

The conference will focus on the following panel topics:

Panel I – AI – IP & Commercialization Issues

Future developments in the field of AI pose a challenge to intellectual property. The current legal regime does not offer protection for AI creations. Thus, registering AI patents and allocate copyright protection for AI inventions and works is not yet possible. Subsequently, AI creations might fall under the public domain. We wish to address these concerns and to offer new insights and suggestions for the upcoming era.

Panel II – AI & Industry

The Path of Law, as Justice Holmes articulated in his seminal paper, is in constant development – like the development of a planet – each generation taking the necessary step forward. Advancements in AI promise to change our society in the years to come and will drastically affect every aspect of our legal norms. It is therefore crucial for us to confront the legal issues that these advancements will doubtless give rise to and to aspire to create guidelines to help us navigate the inevitable changes to our society. In this regard, we hope that Canada can provide a road map for the legal treatment of AI issues in several key areas.

Panel III – Cybersecurity in the AI Era

Cybersecurity is quickly emerging as a crucial component of every nation's security efforts. Recent events around the world have proven the importance of developing the tools needed to face this challenge. AI poses both a risk and opportunity. This Panel will explore the possible changes in modern cybersecurity warfare in the AI era. In doing so, it will bring to the table several experts in the field in an effort to shape a better government cybersecurity policy for the next generation.

Panel IV – AI For Social Good

keeps widening as inequality grows markedly. Artificial Intelligence holds great potential for helping us to lessen these inequalities. While AI is often viewed as a threat to social justice, the opposite may in fact be true. Machine learning in language translation technology can collapse the barriers between third world countries and the West. Algorithmic decision-making can lessen the bias effects toward minority groups. From transportation, healthcare, agriculture to sustainably and governance - the positive applications of AI are unlimited in scope.

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This past August, over 180 experts from 32 countries convened at the American University Washington College to discuss the growing importance of public interest in intellectual property (IP) law. When the Global Congress on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (the “Global Congress”) drew to a close, its members released the Washington Declaration on Intellectual Property and the Public Interest (the “Declaration”), underscoring emerging public interest issues in IP and approaches to integrating them into international IP policy.

The Declaration’s recommendations are grounded in the growing concern that IP policy, though holding the potential to widely affect public interests, continues to be shaped predominantly by private ones. This is because IP policy discourse remains largely centred on the interests of rights holders, demonstrated by the European Union’s recently passed “Cliff’s law” directive that extended protection of sound recordings from 50 to 70 years. The Global Congress openly confronts this trend by exposing the ways IP rights can invasively affect public values such as freedom of expression, consumer protection, and privacy.

The Declaration emphasizes that, in moving forward, IP policy must incorporate public interest concerns by increasing transparency in the policy-shaping process, ensuring consultation with a range of stakeholders, and strengthening limitations and exceptions to IP rights. Some notable recommendations in the Declaration include:

• Supporting the use of open educational resources through government procurement policies for textbooks and other educational materials;
• Developing binding international agreements providing for mandatory minimum limitations and exceptions;
• Creating appropriate limits on the use of unfair contracts or technological protection measures that override limitations and exceptions;
• Ensuring that legal penalties, processes, and remedies are reasonable and proportional to the acts of infringement they target;
• Limiting the duties, rights, or abilities of Internet service providers to monitor or control the communications of their users;
• Ending patents based on discovery rather than invention (including patents on human DNA sequences and disease associations) and creating a more rigorous determination of inventiveness;
• Ensuring that inventions that result from publicly funded research are available for public use;
• Increasing public oversight and accountability of collective rights management organizations; and
• Requiring that current proposals for global copyright and patent reform fully integrate development concerns.

What the Declaration markedly reflects is a growing shift in view which recognizes that innovation and creativity are not merely nurtured by strong IP rights but by the cultural environment created by the public. Therefore, although IP rights are property rights in the sense that they are controlled by the rights holder, contemporary discourse must progressively consider the rights of the public at large to access and use that “property.” The Supreme Court of Canada has, for almost a decade since Théberge v. Galérie d’Art du Petit Champlain Inc., [2002] 2 S.C.R. 336, recognized that IP law ought to establish a balance between “the public interest in promoting the encouragement and dissemination of works of the arts and intellect and obtaining a just reward for the creator.” IP law and policy – and Canadian IP policy in particular – should be at the forefront of genuinely reflecting that balance.[1]

Having conceptually established the necessity of this balance, the important question the Declaration seeks to address is: how does the concept of promoting the public interest in IP take shape in practice? It is easy to immediately launch into debate over how the implementation of the Declaration will effectively uphold user rights or encroach on the interests of rights holders.  However, perhaps the most important take-away from this discussion – as summarized by the Global Congress at the end of the Declaration – is the need to channel more resources and greater efforts into studying the impact of IP policy. The greatest weakness of the debate is not the absence of strong theoretical arguments but that of strong evidence to point the debate in one direction over the other. Although most IP-focused research is conducted and funded by industry, these studies often fail to adequately document and publish details on their assumptions, methods, and data.[2]  In addition, almost no research has examined the economic value generated by limitations on or exceptions to IP protection.[3]

As was vocally conveyed by the Global Congress, beyond conceptual debates shaping IP policy, it is time for policy-makers to begin moving towards a form of evidence-based policy development.

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