Bill C-209 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Copyright Act (Crown copyright)

This bill was last introduced in the 43rd Parliament, 2nd Session, which ended in August 2021.

This bill was previously introduced in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session.

Sponsor

Brian Masse  NDP

Introduced as a private member’s bill. (These don’t often become law.)

Status

Outside the Order of Precedence (a private member's bill that hasn't yet won the draw that determines which private member's bills can be debated), as of Feb. 19, 2020
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill. The Library of Parliament often publishes better independent summaries.

This enactment amends the Copyright Act to specify that, without prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown, no copyright subsists in any work that is, or has been, prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department.

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from the Library of Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Copyright ActRoutine Proceedings

February 19th, 2020 / 3:30 p.m.
See context

NDP

Brian Masse NDP Windsor West, ON

moved for leave to introduce C-209, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (Crown copyright).

Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to reintroduce my bill which proposes to amend the Copyright Act. In particular, section 12 would be dropped, and that is without any prejudice to any rights or privileges of the Crown. No copyright subsists in any work that is or has been prepared or published by or under the direction or control of Her Majesty or any government department.

As things stand now, the government has a closed door when it comes to government publications, research and a number of published periodicals. This costs taxpayers a significant amount of money. It is against open government, and is based upon a law that Canada enacted in 1921, which was based on a law from 1911 in the U.K.

Therefore, the bill would save money for taxpayers, it would provide open government for educators and innovators, and it would bring accountability. Most importantly, the bill would bring Canada in line with so many other countries that have information available for business or civil society for national advancement.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)