The Employment Diaries

Hill(arious) 16.04.10

I think  for some of the Committee members, yesterday’s Culture and Heritage meeting could’ve been in Greek.

Enter two, young, so-far-on-the-cusp-of-online-innovation-they’re-falling-in entrepreneurs as witnesses and you’re already asking for more than a French translation needed in that earpiece.

The meeting was the third in a series the Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC) will be holding for the next two months to develop their study “Canada and the New Media.” By the time it’s finished, I’m sure they’ll all have been replaced by robots or, at the very least, Parliament will have dissolved into virtual offices and the building will be a laughing model of “how things used to be.”

Brett "You'd much rather see me at the Genies than in jail" Gaylor

Jeff "If you put a macbook in the hands of every 13-year-old in this country in five years you'll have more high quality content then you could ever imagine" Anders

Jeff Anders, C.E.O. and founder of The Mark News, an online platform where important Canadians can say important things (read: Canada’s Huffington Post, but without the tabloid headlines cause we’re Canada and more sophisticated than that) read opening remarks off a teeny-tiny laptop, and Brett Gaylor, documentary filmmaker and website starter (Eyes Steel Film, Open Source Cinema and Homeless Nation) most famously known for RiP: a remix manifesto, which explores the issue of copyright through the work of mash-up artist Girl Talk, read his from a regular sized laptop plastered with bumper stickers. (There was also a Quebec woman from L‘Association nationale des éditeurs de livres (ANEL) but since she had her notes on paper she was too relateable and not adding to the (Hill)arious dynamic. Sorry, Aline Côté. You still ma gurl!).

The boys had concise points to make throughout their allotted 5 minutes of presentation time. Anders, (who is also the proud owner of a nice set of baby blues) explained why it is virtually impossible for a company like The Mark to receive Government funding. The year-old start-up is not eligible for many grants because it is for-profit, and online (as opposed to non-profit and paper-based). No such category exists for current Government grants (although he acknowledged the Canada Media Fund that was announced on March. 9 could change things) and The Mark had to rely on friends and private investors to turn its lights on. Now they have to worry about keeping them on. He pointed out the Government’s hypocrisy: they want to invest in new media but make it impossible for innovative businesses to access funding.

Check. Now onto his mate:

Gaylor (who proudly wore a plaid t-shirt to Parliament!!!) had two words for the Committee: Fair dealing. He’s got beef with copyright laws (and actually used the word beef in his presentation, though in a different context). He stated his entire documentary, as well as the artist Girl Talk’s music, are technically illegal under Canada’s copyright laws because they use samples of other works without permission. The problem being, for creators to access copyright info essential to their work (for example, Gaylor uses a Disney movie clip in his documentary to show how re-mixing work has been around since Fantasia) they would have to pay obscene amounts of money, or be denied access by the copyright holders. If the Government does not broaden their Fair Dealing doctrine (which includes limited instances of when material can be used sans permission and does not extend to the entertainment industry*), they are preventing important and innovative Canadian work  from being made.

The Committee were on their best behaviour and treated Anders and Gaylor like the technological Gods they are. There were no accusations, no Quebecois swearing (see previous entries) and no breathers had to be taken due to heated exchanges.

The six MP’s who spoke all pretty much reiterated the same questions that were already answered in the introductions: (the others were too busy looking up words in their Greek dictionaries) Is the Government doing enough to help online innovators? NOO!!!!! What can we do to help? More money. Fair Dealing. Get with the program.

The award

Other Committee members chose to bow out of the discussion all together. The (Hill)arious award this week goes to a Conservative MP who acted like a kid having to sit through his least favourite subject. “I don’t have to ask anything, do I?” he said poutily to his assistant upon sitting down at the table. We’ve got a trouble maker.

“When did you get out?” an NDP member asked from across the table before the meeting started.

“From where? Jail? My basement?” I’d try a cave.

NDP gave a knowing nod. “I haven’t seen you in awhile.”

“I’m here because I’m a digital media expert,” he said sarcastically.

“Right,” said NDP.  “I’m sure everything you say will be extremely technical.”

Well, it wasn’t, but it was (Hill)arious. At one point, after Gaylor admit his affinity for the Pirate Party, a Liberal MP admitted to having been a Rhino supporter himself.

“I won’t say what you are now,” burst out our Conservative comedian. “A donkey,” he said, leaning over and whispering to the MP beside him.

Zing. This dude still hasn’t lost his school yard touch, and for that, he wins the (Hill)arious award.

Special mention to the runner-up, who is myself. Walking into the room I assumed because of Gaylor’s hip-shirt he must be the founder of The Mark, Canada’s hippest new media source, rather than the real Anders wearing a tie and suit. “I know one of your interns,” I said cockily, when Gaylor walked over to pick up something beside my seat. “Alex Derry.”

“Um, I don’t think so,” said Gaylor, looking at me confusedly. “I’m Brett.”

“Oh,” I said.

“You might know one of my interns,” he offered, giving me a hand in drowning waters.

“Maybe one day,” I said. Maybe one day? Weird.

As my good friend Sascha recently wrote in a facebook message: “My life is basically preoccupied with studying and saying things that I spend three days cringing about after the fact.” I feel the same. Except I’m not studying.

Happy Weekend.

*Information pulled from a Wikipedia page and therefore correct.