The Influential Few

The Conservative governmenthave heald no public hearings on copyright.
if rumours as to the content of the new legislation are true then the Conservative Government have not considered the input of their own study, educators, librarians, telecom companies, artists, musicians, privacy commision….
then who have the conservatives been talking to here is a list.

David Wilkins
American Ambassador

Wilkins was appointed by the Bush Administration as a reward for running both of President Bush’s election campaigns in South Carolina. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador Wilkins was speaker of the house for South Carolina. An example of his political cunning can be seen in his handling if his disputes with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).The NAACP called for a boycott of South Carolina’s $10 billion tourism industry in response to the flying of the Confederate flag on the capitals dome. Wilkins kept the confederate flag atop the dome until the NAACP boycott created too much media sensation. Wilkins moved the flag to another location with a fence and a guard, but kept the contentious symbol of slavery flying.

When South Carolina became the last to adopt Martin Luther King Jr. day as an official holiday, Wilkins ensured that the state also adopted a Confederate memorial day holiday.

While the speaker of the house Wilkins supported tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber. He supported a bill to strengthen South Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage; he helped create harsher sentencing for pot possession; and he backed legislation restricting access to abortions.During his farewell speech to the House, Wilkins said God had told him to go to Ottawa.

During the Maher Arar scandal Wilkinswas adamant about Canadians interfering in U.S. business “It’s a little presumptuous of him to say who the United States can and cannot allow into our country,” “Canadian officials would rightly never tolerate any American official dictating to them who they may or may not allow into their country.”

Clearly he has no such reservations about Americans dictating to Canadian policy makers. He has weighed in heavily on the issue and in most notible for his statistically flawed claims that.”Canada is known for having the weakest copyright protection in the G7″ and “There’s a lot of pirating that goes on, a lot of counterfeiting of movies and songs” and “it really does cost the Canadian economy a huge amount every year, estimated to be from some 10 to 30 billion (dollars) per year. He has had several meetings with Heritage and Industry on copyright legislation.

Diane Feinstein
American Senator

John Cornyn
American Senator