Canada’s “Open Government” Needs Real Openness

Canada’s government claims about being for ‘Open Government’ got a reality check today as the Auditor General released a scathing report on the government’s non-transparency, and possible corruption in Tony Clement’s riding. The Treasury board and other government agencies did not keep any paper trail making it hard to investigate how the project was awarded and why disproportionately large sum went to Clement’s riding of Muskoka. Not to mention the fact that Parliament was lied to and was told that the funds were for US/Canada border.

Can Tony Clement, who is now being labelled “Prince of Pork” for pork-barrelling, be trusted to head his new position as head of the financially critical agency of Treasury Board? An agency that holds the purse string of Canada’s government?

Recommend this post (progressivebloggers.ca)

Cross-Border Talks and Cybersecurity Law Consultation Ended

You are not alone if you did not even know there was a public consultation on cross-border talks.
Link to Pirate Party of Canada Press release: Transparent Public Consultation Needed for Cross-Border Talks.

U.S. Wants To Make “Illegal” Streaming a Felony, Open to Wiretapping

The U.S. Senate responded to White House request for a law that would explicitly make “Illegal” Streaming of video or audio a felony.

Streaming content has been considered a “public performance” rather than “distribution.” … The (White House) report called on Congress “to ensure that [the Department of Justice] and U.S. law enforcement agencies are able to effectively combat infringement involving new technology” by clarifying that streaming unauthorized audio or video is a felony. (rawstory.com)

Cnet reported about the White House proposal back in March 15. They have also pointed out that Obama appointed a copyright industry lawyer to the Justice Department post, and claim that Biden is a staunch supporter of major copyright holders.

No less than 78 percent of political contributions from Hollywood went to Democrats in 2008, which is broadly consistent with the trend for the last two decades, according to OpenSecrets.org.(Cnet)