The Battle for Canada's Internet Has Just Begun

Like the government itself, our internet policy needs to be accountable to Canadians.

At this point, most of those who are paying attention recognize that Canada has been facing a disturbing accountability crisis. Even Andrew Coyne in Maclean's points out the “long train of offences against democratic and parliamentary principle” that the Conservatives will bring to office with them.

Yet this trend is at odds with the flourishing of online practices and tools that make it easier for citizens to know and report on what’s going on with their government. During the recent federal election, OpenMedia.ca talked directly to politicians on our supporters’ behalf, asking them to fill out our online survey and add their name to our list of pro-internet candidates. We asked that they be willing to create more, not fewer, means of holding them accountable, and hundreds of politicians responded – just one small indicator that new tools shift our expectations around accountability and transparency.

The Conservatives, as you might know, mostly refused to participate. They dug in their heels. So what now, with them having a majority in Parliament?

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Canada's Internet Crisis

I believe change is still coming. The scope and scale of direct involvement in politics are only just beginning to expand; this election represented mere baby steps for networked movements that want to change the relationship between citizens and decision-makers.

Those of us who are eager to bring laggards on board for these changes can start with comprehensive and achievable plans. OpenMedia.ca is releasing ours today in a report called “Casting an Open Net: A Leading-Edge Approach to Canada's Digital Policy.” The Conservatives have committed to stopping pay-meter-style internet usage fees and increasing choice in the internet service market. We're going to give them a smart proposal for doing so.

Following through on their commitments means the government needs to jettison the mentality that calls policies like functional separation – which has allowed the biggest U.K. internet provider to start offering an unmetered internet – “completely unrealistic” (a direct quote from former Conservative industry minister Tony Clement).

Clement disagrees with separating telecom corporations according to their function because our telecommunications market is heading “towards greater convergence” – this is true, but it’s because our market has been set up to function that way, with decision-makers close to industry and insulated from citizens, permissive towards oligopolies and the concentrations of power and influence that have had a direct effect on your wallet and our economy.

As we argue in our report, a visionary government would reverse the years of policy neglect that have contributed to this harmful trend, especially given that countries around the world are fighting this trend and succeeding, leaving Canada further behind.

Taking our detailed and painstakingly researched list of recommendations seriously would be like doubling down on accountability: It would prove that the government is truly willing to put citizen interests over corporate interests, and safeguard the open platform where citizens have invented new ways to engage in politics, such as through organizing vote mobs, getting parties to answer digital surveys, asking them to publicly sign online commitments, tweeting from CRTC meetings, etc. (If you're not familiar with these new tools or ways of engaging, I encourage you to take a moment to learn about them, contemplate the possibilities, and be inspired to rethink citizenship in the way that so many of your fellow Canadians have begun to do.)

Digital policies are a bellwether for the direction this government intends to go – towards or away from the public interest.

Truer, deeper democracy is more possible now than ever before in an open internet age; however you voted, this is where your interest lies. After all, no matter which party’s promises appealed to you, the internet is your best means of finding out whether they keep them – and joining with your fellow citizens to do something about it when they don't.