Industry committee  That was my way of appealing to you, to get you thinking. I have a bit of time left. I imagine your binder there includes a page on copyright reform, since it's in your mandate letter. For years, Quebec's publishing community has been calling for the Copyright Act to be reformed, as promised. Despite being in your mandate letter, those reforms have yet to happen.

Industry committee  That's excellent to hear, because it is important. Lastly, and really quickly, Crown copyright in Canada is the distribution of public materials that are produced by the government. We haven't changed that since 1911. The law was actually enacted in 1909. The United States provides this information, as do the U.K. and every other commonwealth country.

Industry committee  .$79,468,000 (Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division) CANADIAN TOURISM COMMISSION Vote 1—Payments to Commission..........$115,967,712 (Vote 1 agreed to on division) COPYRIGHT BOARD Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$4,045,082 (Vote 1 agreed to on division) DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$618,058,710 Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$76,406,772 Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$5,243,950,500 Vote L15—Payments under subsection 14(2) of the Department of Industry Act..........$300,000 Vote L20—Loans under paragraph 14(1)(a) of the Department of Industry Act..........$500,000 (Votes 1, 5, 10, L15 and L20 agreed to on division) DEPARTMENT OF WESTERN ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$41,478,066 Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$275,379,745 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CANADA FOR THE REGIONS OF QUEBEC Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$44,487,260 Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$266,261,739 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) FEDERAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR NORTHERN ONTARIO Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$15,173,274 Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$38,172,996 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) FEDERAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY FOR SOUTHERN ONTARIO Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$34,929,462 Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$190,020,359 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$582,386,328 Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$152,061,000 Vote 10—Grants and contributions..........$610,696,760 (Votes 1, 5 and 10 agreed to on division) NATURAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING RESEARCH COUNCIL Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$58,597,413 Vote 5—Grants..........$1,318,171,508 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) PACIFIC ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY OF CANADA Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$29,134,464 Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$89,283,824 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES RESEARCH COUNCIL Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$44,248,882 Vote 5—Grants..........$1,148,878,654 (Votes 1 and 5 agreed to on division) STANDARDS COUNCIL OF CANADA Vote 1—Payments to the Council..........$21,397,106 (Vote 1 agreed to on division) STATISTICS CANADA Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$648,221,726 (Vote 1 agreed to on division)

Industry committee  I happen to have a private member's bill on Crown copyright that you're welcome to steal, and I won't call it fraud.

Industry committee  We are in the process of looking at that with AI and copyright stakeholders, specifically. You're absolutely right that it's something many people are concerned about. On a broader level, I can assure you that I've met with people in the sector to discuss the issue.

Industry committee  Where in the world is there a consistency of Crown copyright?

Industry committee  There are a number of particular uses of copyrighted information on the Crown side that need to be understood in their full context.

Industry committee  I'm not sufficiently familiar, as this hearing today is on the privacy bill, with the full international examples of Crown copyright.

Industry committee  Even the former parliamentary secretary for the Liberals in this position, the former solicitor general, was much more open to and was pro the reform of Crown copyright, but we know what happened with that situation. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Finance committee  It's very different. You're right, it's different because it's not about the copyright sections of trade agreements; however, trade secrets are also covered by trade agreements. It is a good concern to raise in this committee as to the impact the proposal could have on trade.

The Budget  It is really funny that this is in there. I had the privilege to sponsor Bill C-294, which is an act to amend the Copyright Act for interoperability. There are many fantastic short-line manufacturers in Saskatchewan, and quite frankly all across this country, that make great agricultural products. They also make products for other industries, but I am going to focus on the agricultural side of it.

Finance committee  Why has the government addressed this issue through a few measures? First, there are some bills before Parliament right now. They cover the role that copyright plays in gaining access to what may be protected by copyright, such as vehicle software. This is one of the major aspects that will help ensure that consumers can have their vehicle repaired.

Information & Ethics committee  Now, instead of buying the technology directly from suppliers like Cellebrite, it goes through Teel Technologies, a company in Victoria, British Columbia. The current contract runs until the summer of 2024. The Copyright Board of Canada is also one of the organizations—

Information & Ethics committee  Just recently, I got an updated contract from Teel Technologies for mobile forensic devices—the Copyright Board was a new agency that came up as a receiver of these things—for $11 million. It was a recent contract, a renewal. If we're going to be careful with money, we should really ask hard questions about what technology is purchased before it's purchased.

Industry committee  The Copyright Act affords copyright holders remedies for addressing counterfeit cases involving AI developers, suppliers and users. First, however, AI framework legislation must at least provide that the intellectual property of Canadians be respected.