The Canadian government has ratified a number of treaties, including the WIPO treaties, the Berne Convention and the TRIPS Agreement. All of these treaties include a provision under which exceptions relating to copyright must be limited to special cases which do not conflict with the normal exploitation of the work or the interests of creators.
In that regard, I am not the only one to be of that view. Several experts provided testimony before the legislative committee studying Bill C-32, including Ysolde Gendreau of ILAA Canada, and Georges Azzaria. The Quebec Bar and a number of other international associations have written many letters on this issue. In their opinion, the exceptions proposed by the Canadian government, particularly regarding fair use, contravene Canada's international obligations, because they are far too broad. Furthermore, given that they are already subject to remuneration, they will necessarily conflict with the rights of copyright owners.