The Internet Can Co-Exist and Flourish with a Conservative Majority

"Good Folks @ openmedia......take this shocker as a resolve and challenge...only make your resolve stronger to fight it more and step it up a notch or two. The choice is to go out like a wimp or stay for the fight."

First off, let me just assure the Pro-Internet community that we aren't going anywhere, we're just getting started. It is true that the party that most ignored the Pro-Internet community got a majority last night. But let's step back for a second.

Our basic goals for the election were: 1. Make the Internet an election issue, thereby using it as a mechanism to raise awareness about telecom price gouging 2. Use our leverage as a voting block to get the candidates/parties on the record concerning digital policy, and to use that leverage to push for strident pro-Internet positions that we could then later hold candidates to.

Ultimately, our power rests in the size and depth of the pro-Internet community, so growing our numbers is very important.

1. We reached and engaged tens of thousands of Canadians through our online tools and media coverage in almost every major outlet in the country. Growing our community is especially important if we are to sway a majority government.

2. Whereas the Conservative Party abstained from answering our survey, other parties did articulate their policies in detail. The commitment to Functional Separation (breaking up telecom Internet business divisions) by both the NDP and Liberals moves the ball forward significantly. We have 46 elected pro-Internet candidates we can now work closely with, and 330 in total. That means, we can work with these candidates in most ridings to educate people at a local level - quite a resource.

While most Conservative MPs held off on officially signing up as Pro-Internet Candidates, when faced with a tidal wave of emails from citizens, many did email voters back, articulating their pro-Internet stance and committing to stop UBB if elected. That's a clear commitment we can and will hold these MPs to. During the election, we built all-party consensus that parliament must action to stop Canada from further becoming an Internet laggard - that's a big win for us.

The language around being "pro-Internet" was not even heard of a couple months ago; now we have candidates from every party fighting to claim this title.

This community is in its infancy. When you look at communities that have been built around other issues -- like the environment, or civil liberties, etc -- they took years to gain political currency. It's amazing that we've already reached that point, that we're having the impact that we have, and the huge potential we have moving forward.

It's true that in some ways, it will be more difficult to move politics under a Conservative majority. This means that the pro-Internet community needs to continue to grow in order to make itself felt. In the coming months and beyond, it's up to all of us who are sick of gouging and who believe in the opportunities of the Internet, to reach out to family, friends, and fellow Canadians across the political spectrum to join this community. Rural, urban, suburban and ethnic communities of all stripes should be invited to help shape our digital future. Let's build a broad consensus behind the need for a connected future we can all take part in.

The Stop the Meter petition continues to grow, day by day, signifying the growth of our community. More importantly, the CRTC hearing on UBB is coming up in July (more news on our submissions as part of this process soon, including some exciting news about our growing policy team) and rest-assured that we've continued working on this even through the election. People can join the already hugely unprecedented 90,000+ Canadians who have made CRTC submissions here: http://openmedia.ca/crtc

There's much more coming up (like a citizen-based research report, a united front for affordable Internet, etc..) but I'll leave those for future posts.

Lets work together to chart a path that will ensure we save the open and affordable Internet. You can start by discussing the future of the pro-Internet on Facebook, or by joining in a conversation with me hosted by The Mark tomorrow.

Despite pundits' assertions that this election would be uneventful and inconsequential, the results certainly suggest otherwise. The real message this election sends is that citizens want to be in the driver's seat of our democracy. This election is an inflection point for Canada; the relationship between citizens and politicians has changed for the better.

Redefining politics, citizenship and democracy is really important to a long term solution to Internet price-gouging along with many other issues. Democracy is a process not a day. The CRTC meeting we opened up in March won't be our last, and the vote mobs won't be the end of the creative citizen expression. We're just getting started.

Let's remember that while having a Conservative Majority Government is not without its challenges, it also means that if we can convince them to move forward on something, it's easy for them to get things done. If we continue to build the pro-Internet community change will come.

Onward - For the Internet
Steve

Pro Internet Candidates:

• Olivia Chow
• Jack Layton
• Charlie Angus
• Tyrone Benskin
• Dennis Bevington
• Francoise Boivin
• Andrew Cash
• Chris Charlton
• David Christopherson
• Ryan Cleary
• Joe Comartin
• Jean Crowder
• Nathan Cullen
• Don Davies
• Libby Davies
• Paul Dewar
• Pierre Dionne Labelle
• Fin Donnelly
• Carol Hughes
• Bruce Hyer
• Peter Julian
• Megan Leslie
• Wayne Marston
• Irene Mathyssen
• Peggy Nash
• Mathieu Ravignat
• Denise Savoie
• Kennedy Stewart
• Peter Stoffer
• Nycole Turmel

• Scott Brison
• Marc Garneau
• Hon. Hedy Fry
• Gerard Kennedy
• Paul Okalik
• Bob Rae
• Justin Trudeau
• Mauril Bélanger
• Wayne Easter
• Mark Eyking
• Joyce Murray
• Geoff Regan
• Frank Valeriote

• Elizabeth May

• Chris Alexander