So, remember when PM Harper and the Conservative Party signed omnibus legislation, limiting debate while passing disguised legislation?
I think PM Trudeau and the Liberal Party are poised to do something very similar, possibly to greater detriment, with the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty. I hope we inform this current government that this sort of thing is just as unacceptable now as it was when the Conservatives were in power.
I worry about the Intellectual Property and Copyright provisions of the TPP treaty; I think it will come with great cost to public domain knowledge; I think it will make an already problematic patent system (especially with regard to software patents) worse; I think it will embolden censorship; I think it will widen the class division between those who have access to knowledge and technology & those who have-not.
Should we agree to the TPP? I’m not sure; if my assertions are correct, I would say definitely not. I do know that the potential for worsening societal problems is there, and I hope there is plenty of public discussion amongst experts before we sign into anything. Personally, I don’t have faith that our government will do the right thing, in the interest of our democratic nation, without our enforcement. I suspect that selling an unfavourable treaty to the public is more politically convenient for the Liberals than scrapping the TPP and then trying to defend their position.
I am in the Information Technology business. Freedom of Information and Public Access to Information & Technology are a major concern of mine. I’ve begun studying genomics and I can predict how publicly available knowledge vs. privately held intellectual property is going to be the difference between inexpensive & available to all cancer treatments vs. potentially unaffordable treatment. I’m not sure that the spirit of Canada is compatible with the TPP.
I for one will be doing further research on the impact of the TPP and writing my MP and the Minister of International Trade, Chrystia Freeland. Possibly writing the PM. I hope you will consider it, too.
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