Net Neutrality in Canada

There's a very interesting article about two bills recently introduced by the Conservative government, the Investigative Powers for the 21st Century Act and the Technical Assistance for Law Enforcement in the 21st Century Act, which would require Internet service providers (ISPs) to install expensive tracking technology, force them to disclose subscriber information such as name, address and email address without a court order, as well as grant police broad new powers to obtain Internet transmission data.

The New Democratic party (NDP) has supported net neutrality for some time and introduced a private member's net neutrality bill at the end of May.

Last week, seemingly in direct response to the bills introduced by the government, the Liberal Party announced support for net neutrality, just weeks before the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission is scheduled to begin hearings July 6 on network management practices.

Net neutrality is a contentious issue in Canada.  In a rather notorious case in 2005 Telus blocked a community web site supported by a striking union.

The Green Party also supports net neutrality, while the position of the Bloc Québecois on the issue is uncertain.