U.S. Pressed Canada on Copyright Reform for Years

Leaked memos show how much pressure the U.S. put on Canada to pass strict intellectual property laws.

A number of cables released by WikiLeaks shed light on intense U.S. lobbying efforts to get Canada to pass copyright legislation in line with American laws. The memos say that the matter was of such importance to the U.S. that former president George W. Bush brought it up with Prime Minister Stephen Harper during a summit in 2008, at which point Harper promised to pass such a bill. Embassy officials routinely expressed frustration at the Conservative government for its inability to make a good case for digital locks on storage devices that would make it illegal to transfer music from a CD to an MP3 player, for example. Every copyright bill introduced by the Tories – and the Liberals before them – has died in the House of Commons.