jdobbin

If so, maybe Canada will have the civil war it never had.

I think you underestimate how much pirating takes place, it is relevant and very costly. Walk down any street in Canada and count the pirate dishes. People have opted out of paying for TV because the government let's them. I am afraid that doesn't help those who actually produce content. If you are stealing electricity off the line simply because you can, don't be surprised if someone cuts the line and arrests you. I agree that big media companies have done well in the past. No one wants to go back to the way it was. However, there is a price to stealing. Eventually, content gets choked off or industry comes up with pays to make you pay such as Internet throttling or by cutting off people who download too much. I am not defending old technology. So your proposal is exactly what? And what do you see as the outcome?

It really is a stunning number. I honestly didn't expect to see it. Still, the BQ are among the best campaigners in the land. Ignatieff will have to convince Quebcers that their interests are better served by someone other than the BQ. That is going to take good policies, good candidates and good organization.

And everyone will be looking for content to fill this bandwidth. Support the producers of art then rather than the distributors. Canadian content is important in the same way nationhood is important. Even in a global world, we are still a nation. Unless that is anachronism as well. I don't think it is. I think we cease being a nation if we don't have any content in news and entertainment that is Canadian.

On traditional TV broadcasters, who knows? People will still watch, listen or read something and Canadian content shouldn't be limited to traditional broadcasters. Which is why I suggested that the CRTC should have a limit for credit for established artists. It doesn't mean that your daughters have stopped listening to music or that Canadian content is not important. In fact, you say they still watch movies. Help Canadian productions and help new writers and directors if that is the case. My confidence in radio is based on the fact that it illegal to watch TV and movies in a car nor do some jurisdictions allow you to talk on a cell or text message while you drive. If you want to argue that the car is dead and that radio will die with it then maybe we should start a new thread. People's habits have changed for radio. They listen while they commute in North America because most radio is free and legal. And these people have stopped listening to music, watching TV, going to movies or are they getting them in different formats? You say there is a drop in people using services but does that mean a drop in interest in overall content overall? In part this is an aspect of the digital revolution and debt incurred by networks as well as the present recession. If your argument that CHCH can only be saved by ending Canadian content and allowing a foreign buyer to take over, I don't know if that is the solution. CHCH's problem is a debt laden ownership group that has been running the network like a second tier service with no interest in local content like news that actually does get ratings. I have said that the solution might be to end the CRTC and all Canadian content and ownership and competition rules in the past if that is what the industry really wants but that is not what they want. They just want protection from international competition and from international ownership while ending all Canadian content and jacking up their profit margin. People have opted out of paying for TV by pirating signals and downloading movies and the government turns a blind eye to copyright infringement. This has been as much of a problem as anything and government should realize that entire industries will crumble without fair but enforced copyright, patent protection and trademarks. What are your ideas for improving the system? Do you think it should all be burned to the ground? Are your daughters not interested in games, books, music, TV and movies? Are they not interested in Canadian content? Is being Canadian an indifferent thing to youth? Do they not want Canadian influences in their lives? If that is true, then we don't need Canadian content or a nation of Canada.

Compared to what we had before when artists like Neil Young and the Guess Who had to leave Canada to get success, Canadian content rules have hlped. I agree that successful Candadian artists don't need help and should be dropped from Canadian content credits after after a certain amount of time. I don't think classic radio is about to drop Neil Young after all this time. I have no problem with fixing Canadian content regulations. I have suggested they be dropped completely but we have seen what happens in the absence of them before: almost zero Canadian content. Now, some people think that is totally unimportant but if we want information and entertainment in Canada with no Canadian context whatsoever, we should be asking to ourselves why we are a nation to begin with. I have no problem having very reduced credits for successful artists who need no help getting on the dial. I have no problems fixing it. I do have a problem if the solution is to end all rules on broadcasting completely. I don't know that the right wing or left wing would be very happy with the results. Radio has been doing pretty well lately so my sympathies for them are somewhat limited. I sympathsize with newer artists who have to compete with Canadians who have live in castles in Switzerland and still receive protection on the airwaves. I know what the limits from CRTC rules but I don't like the bull in the china shop approach from people in TV who simply want to end all Canadian content while receiving protection from other competitors.

I'd day it is all of our money since CPP, company pensions and private pensions all invest in media. To say that I was uncomfortable with the amount of debt a lot of these companies was piling on is an understatement. People have been predicting radio's death for years. Radio has adapted for the simple reason that it is one of the best mediums for commuter transport. All the visual and some audio mediums are either illegal or inappropriate while driving. Subsequently, radio has become one of the most chosen mediums for commuting. It used to be that radio was frequently used at home. Statistics have shown the shift to driving. While true that there is other audio competition in cars from MP3 to CDs, there are none that provide such an ease of information at the fingertips. And all of it is free. That is a very specific reason why radio has not died. TV is facing a lot more competition at home from other mediums. TV beat back radio to the periphery in the home years ago but now computers, Internet, cell phones and video games offer other choices for the consumer. TV will never have the same share that it used to have in the home, especially in entertainment. It is why a lot of them have gone multimedia. If today's youth won't watch Gossip Girl on TV (and there is evidence that it is almost never watched live), they catch it on the Internet or by the DVD boxset later on. TV has to give its advertisers multi-platforms for reach their audience. However, their business model is based on the immediacy of overnight TV ratings. That is where some of their problems lie. The CRTC is not responsible for bad decisions in the U.S. or in the world affecting TV. In terms of Canada, Canadian content guidelines have created a national music industry capable of getting its product on broadcasts in Canada and succeeding around the world. The evidence prior to Canadian content rules for radio was that radio in Canada did not play Canadian artists unless they were successful outside of Canada first. That was their business model. Despite the complaints of the radio industry, radio has been very profitable with Canadian content rules and the evidence is that more people in Canada listen to radio than the U.S. Direct connection? Perhaps. TV has been a very profitable industry in Canada for decades. However, one thing is clear: The government owns the airwaves and licence slots on the dial. I know of no industrial nation that allows private industry to own the airwaves. Subsequently, the government can set up rules on how this bandwidth is used. Every nation does this as well. I have no problems adjusting policy to shifts in how the industry finds success on government owned airwaves but the cries of poverty have been happening for decades and it is not so convincing with the profit margins taken in over the years. Some of those ideas are as relevant now as ever. Local content is what gets the ratings in many areas but because companies loaded up with debt, they try to get out of these obligations. Local TV news gets cut. Radio has been allowed to adapt and has succeeded. TV is still looking for that model. The CRTC can be blamed for a few things but much of the damage is the business model that the TV industry embraced world-wide. Getting rid of the CRTC is not likely to make the industry get out if its current mess which is carrying too much debt.

Elections Canada files final argument http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090428/...l/tories_in_out Guess we are getting down to the brass tacks. Still wondering how it will all play out.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090428/...s_casey_new_job I think he will be good choice for Nova Scotia in Ottawa. I wonder how long Harper will wait to call a by-election in the riding.

Or Senator Coleman?

If there was a referendum with a clear question as outlined in the Clarity Act and Albertans voted a clear majority, they could begin negotiations for separation. I don't think I have ever seen a legit poll that showed that Albertans were ready to do that.

The death of TV has been overstated. They said the same thing about movie theatres when TV started and look what happened. Radio was said to be an old medium but has been a consistent performer for years and has evolved to satellite and Internet. Some say newspapers are dying but I think that the problem for newspapers is as a result of acquisitions when the market was at its peaks, giving away free product and not monetizing their product on the Internet.

I suppose some of them could rage impotently against a supermajority or they might try to get things they want by working with the Democrats. I think Obama will try to work with Senate and the Reps even if it isn't always necessary.

The resolution is high and they hold the birth certificate in their hands at Factcheck and you can download it. http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/born_in_the_usa.html

Do you think some Republicans might now reach out as well?

What do you mean just Newfoundland politics? Right wingers asked that about Stronach by saying she was bribed. They were less curious about Emerson.

What kind of culture are you a fan of?

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories I guess the cat is out of the bag due to U.S. rules on disclosure. The total might be more like $50,000 when McCurry's numbers come in. And the PMO went on to say that they will be continuing to use the advisers to help Harper land a job. Kind of funny that the PMO is comparing themselves to Libya.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories Canadian broadcasters, cable and satellite companies have long tried to receive protection from competition while at the same time limiting how much they actually did to contribute to Canadian content in terms of news and programs. Many of them became debt burdened when they went on the acquisition trail in the last numbers of years. There's no question that a re-thinking needs to be done in terms of broadcasting. The owners should not be bailed out at the expense of Canadian programming.

It has? As Bill Maher noted in an LA Times column, the Republicans had better have something more than bitter accusations. http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-...,0,927819.story

Are any of these things you might want to do?

Actually, it was a statement he stopped repeating since it could lead to influencing his court case.

Some on the right want to dispense with the courts and the police so they can kick down doors and root out crime in the bedrooms of the nation, go after immigrants for being the wrong colour and religion and to mete down the death penalty for anyone trying to make a left turn at an intersection.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/stor...?hub=TopStories Some of these cases are linked to travel in Mexico. The U.S. has warned there will be deaths in the U.S. as a result of this. I don't think Canada will be able to avoid that either.

And they have not gone had an easy time making a case of it and even if he is convicted, he will likely be released for a variety of reasons including being underage at the time, time served already in detention or problems in regards to legal representation and possible torture. In other words, he is likely to be deported back to Canada and we have made little or no effort to address what will happen when that occurs. And he backed away from that outrageous statement just as fast.