moved for leave to introduce Bill C-440, An Act to amend the Copyright Act (Crown copyright).
Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to rise to introduce my bill to amend the Copyright Act. In particular we would replace section 12 with the following: “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 of the control of Her Majesty or any other government department”.
As things stand right now, the government is a closed door when it comes to government publications, research and a number of periodicals that are published. In fact, this costs us a significant amount of taxpayers' money. Second, it is against open government. As well, this is based upon a law that Canada enacted in 1921, which was based on a law from 1911 from the U.K.
Therefore, this bill would save money for taxpayers. It would provide for educators, innovators and open government and bring accountability. Most importantly, it would bring Canada in line with so many other countries that have information available for businesses, for civil society and for the advancement of our nation and our country of Canada.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)