In yesterday’s posting, I asked “what kind of focus will the next government place on delivery of Canada’s electronic future?”
As the parties begin to publish their election platforms, I started to look for statements on internet and broadband policy. Here is what I found for the Liberals and Green parties.
The Liberal platform has been released [pdf] and it includes a section that calls for completing the job of making broadband internet service available to rural communities. The Liberals also speak of enhancing legislation to target internet luring.
The Green Party appears to be silent on the subject of expanding access to broadband internet in remote and rural regions. Its platform [pdf] addresses the internet twice: first in the context of deploying resources and tools to combat child pornography and luring; and, secondly, identifying plans to pass legislation
granting the Internet in Canada the status of Common Carrier – prohibiting Internet Service Providers from discriminating due to content while freeing them from liability for content transmitted through their systems.
Apparently, the Green Party has stumbled upon a conspiracy plan:
There are corporations that want to control the content of information on the internet and alter the free flow of information by giving preferential treatment to those who pay extra for faster service.
We’ll be watching for statements from the other major parties over the next week or so.