OpenMedia.ca Probes Parties on Digital Policies

Pro-Internet Organization to Get Federal Parties on the Record

April 13, 2011 – As phase two of OpenMedia.ca’s Vote for the Internet campaign, the non-partisan public engagement group put key Internet governance questions to the federal parties today in its "Digital Future Survey". OpenMedia.ca will report the results to citizens later in the election to help them make an informed voting decision.

OpenMedia.ca will be releasing its own set of digital policy recommendations in the next week. The group will include details of parties’ alignment with those recommendations in its report back to Canadians.

In the last week nearly 35,000 citizens visited http://VoteNet.ca and send their local candidates letters urging them to support the open Internet. Candidates from all the major parties responded by signing up as "Pro-Internet Candidates". Today’s questionnaire goes a step further by requesting more in-depth information about federal parties’ positions on key telecommunications issues: Broadband investment, ISP transparency, CRTC reform, ISP competition, diversity in the mobile market, and vertical integration.

“This election, we have the ears of our representatives,” said OpenMedia.ca Executive Director Steve Anderson. “We’re asking parties vying for control of Canada’s government exactly how they plan to free the Internet from the stranglehold of big telecom companies, and stop price gouging once and for all.”

Anderson continued: “We’ve already convinced the major political parties to come out against usage-based billing through the Stop The Meter petition. Canadians now have the opportunity to see which party has the best plan to restructure the industry.”

“This is not about partisanship. This is not about exposing bandwagoning. Canadians want to know what we can expect from newly elected officials so that our votes go to the right ones.”

Since OpenMedia.ca supporters began to ask politicians to sign on as “pro-Internet candidates”, over 100 of those running for office have now taken the pledge to increase Internet access, competition, transparency, and choice if elected.

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Contact

Lindsey Pinto
Communications Manager, OpenMedia.ca
778-238-7710
[email protected]

About OpenMedia.ca

OpenMedia.ca is a national, non-partisan, non-profit public engagement organization working to advance and support an open and innovative communications system in Canada. Our primary goal is to increase public awareness and informed participation in Canadian media, cultural, information, and telecommunications policy formation.