Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  And with how much of it can be accomplished in permissions. As I say, we issue hundreds of permissions a year--some of them are people's dances; some of them are churches; some of them are movies. It's not complex; it's actually courteous.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  Absolutely.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  I would say that it's time for consensus-building. We all have to be mature adults and accept that it's not going to be perfect. There are allowances in the system to continue to tweak and fine-tune things. But there must be a phase of consensus-building to move this along to where we are properly protected, because the industry is in absolute shambles.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  That's exactly the sentiment. Speaking as someone who has a private enterprise and who is not just a widget but also the owner and manager of a little company, sometimes you have to make tough decisions. You have to say, “I'm not going to win everything this time, but I need to move this train out of the station by 6 o'clock.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  I think it's the unequivocal protection for the creator's work. The default position should be to the creator. That really is the main principle, as I said in my opening remarks.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  I must say, as an artist sitting here, and as a taxpayer, I find it incredibly demoralizing to feel that this is one more issue in our society that is bounced around through politics. I used the word “dire”. We all used the word “urgency”. If this should be delayed any further because of political scoring, it would be deeply disturbing for those of us who are simply trying to make a living.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  My feeling is that once a bill is established and the public is educated in what it's set out to do, most Canadians seek to be law-abiding. I think that, as my colleagues suggest, one must set out penalties in such a way so that those who are driving for commercial interests are not able to do that with impunity.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  I think also it must be borne in mind that it takes time to do this process and that with the speed that digital information travels now, you can incur an incredible amount of damage without having a swifter and more severe remedy. I think it also goes back to the default that the copyright holders should have their rights deferred to.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  Thank you for the opportunity to meet with you this morning. I would like to restrict my comments to four points. First, I would like to commend this government for the bill they have presented. I believe with few exceptions they have identified and achieved the main principle of this whole debate: the need to protect the content creators and copyright holders.

Canadian Heritage committee  Moreover, there are many fewer CD retail stores, and this is also a domino effect of the whole collective environment that everyone is working in. On the whole, my constituency prefers to purchase their music in CD form because they like to sit with the liner notes and so on. That's not to say that some of them don't download legally as well, and perhaps some illegally, as I pointed out.

Canadian Heritage committee  From my perspective, as with many kinds of battles, they need to be addressed from a variety of directions at the same time. I think the very first step is a legislative step that does protect intellectual property. But there are a lot of other tasks and sub-battles to go on. Just by that measure alone, it will start to...because I think a lot of people want to be law-abiding.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to thank the committee for the opportunity to appear today, and to acknowledge the daunting task facing its members as it makes its way through this process. As some of you may know, I am a singer-composer and the sole owner of my one-artist record label, Quinlan Road, which encompasses both audio and visual production companies.