Canadian Election & Copyright

Things are starting to get interesting in the Canadian election concerning copyright and culture.

Jack Layton and the NDP are offering a $20,000 per annum copyright royalty income tax exemption. Ireland has long had a major provision exempting royalties earned by artists under specified circumstances. It seems that the Netherlands may have an even better deal, and the ever astute Bono and U2 have moved their music publishing activities to that jurisdiction.

The current Government is coming under fire for cutting $45 million a year for the arts, which is a very controversial move generally and particularly in Quebec. See this video, if you haven't already, which also makes certain points about official bilingualism in Canada.

HK