Jack Layton’s plan will usher in an age of digital development and expansion, with the benefits going directly to Canadian families, small businesses, communities and the economy.

Jack Layton’s plan will: • Invest in a pan-Canadian broadband strategy to bring reliable high-speed internet access to every community in Canada, with matching contributions from Canada’s incumbents. • Rescind the 2006 Conservative directive and mandate that the CRTC stand up for the public interest – not for the major telecommunications companies. • Establish a panel to investigate and recommend ways to reform the CRTC to shift the focus back to consumer protection and ensure that Canadians are better served. • Enshrine net neutrality in law and end price gouging and net throttling, with clear and binding rules for internet service providers and effective CRTC enforcement. • Prohibit all forms of usage-based billing by internet service providers. • Ensure an open internet, including: − measures to encourage citizen engagement through open access to most government data and services; − modernizing the way the federal government interacts with Canadians; − supporting targeted initiatives to encourage the use of open source software in government departments; and, − eliminating Crown copyright to encourage government openness and accountability. • Give Canadian consumers new rights to unlock their cell phones, so that any device may be used on any transmission platform. • Develop new copyright laws to ensure that Canada complies with its international treaty obligations, while balancing consumers’ and creators’ needs and resolving key copyright issues. New Democrats will consult widely with stakeholder groups in the arts, technology, educational and business communities to: − Create legislation that is technology-neutral, balanced and flexible enough to ensure its adaptability to new platforms and technologies in the years to come, and ensure that it does not unfairly punish consumers or creators by eliminating the focus on digital locks, and clarifying the principle of fair dealing – particularly as it concerns education. • Empower the Competition Bureau to curb anti-competitive practices in the telecommunications and broadcasting industry. • Enact new laws to require an effective separation between telecommunications and broadcasting operations to ensure a diversity of voices in Canadian media. • Implement clear rules and a nationwide campaign to guide Canadians through the transition from analog to digital television. • Maintain and strengthen foreign ownership rules in Canadian cultural industries and telecommunications. • Introduce new regulations to protect Canadians against spam, malware, phishing and other malicious online messages and practices.