Update on Canada

Thanks to Catherine Middleton for alerting me that the story on easing foreign ownership restrictions in Canada is premature.

The relevant Minister did indicate that change is underway but will not be unveiled till 2012.

He interestingly is reported to have said "the government expects cellphone companies to offer rural Canadians the same services as those living in cities." Canada faces the same kind of geographic issues as Australia - though less urbanised. Vast thinly populated areas are extremely hard to provide metro like mobile coverage to. The only way such an expectation can be fulfilled is to put "must build" criteria on licences (as indeed the original Australian GSM licences had).


Middleton has provided a neat summary of telecommunications in Canada in the TJA. In it she notes a wireless market structure much like Australia's and that "99% of the population has access to 2G or 3G service
(which covers only 20% of the country's geographic area)" The Australian comparison is something like 98% of the population and 25% of the land mass (when a car kit is included)though real data is hard to obtain. (The landmass figure was provided in the Glasson report at P.125 and may well have increased since.)

The comparison between Australia and Canada is otherwise interesting. We have a well developed infrastructure strategy, and at least an attempt at a Digital Economy strategy.

Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est

Two takes on Canada

James Allan writing in the Oz claims the ALP needs to pay attention to Canada as the result there shows the historic centre-left party (the Liberal Party) being overtaken by a new further left party (the New Democratic Party).

Allan claims;

Now it's no great stretch to compare the NDP with the Greens here in Australia. Both have the same other-worldly grasp of economics, the same dislike of free trade, the same strands in their parties who dislike Israel and the same proclivity to deal in moral and political abstractions rather than specific facts.

Which is interesting but fails to note that the NDP is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. It is far more like what the Australian Democrats would look like today if they hadn't self-immolated and their vote hadn't drifted to the Greens and the Liberals. Neither the Liberals nor NDP can really claim to be a social democratic party of the standard of the ALP.

Charles Richardson writing in Crikey (behind a paywall) suggests the real message from Canada is for the UK and their forthcoming referendum on the AV (see earlier comments).

Canada's Conservative Party was a minority government for the past two terms They finally won a majority in Monday's general election -- 167 seats out of 308 -- courtesy of the electoral system, not the voters. The Tories won with only 39.6% of the votes. Against them, the three centre-left parties of New Democrats (30.6%, 102 seats), Liberals (18.9%, 34 seats) and Greens (3.9%, one seat) had a clear majority between them.

The ALP has much to fear - The Greens are not one of those things.

Novae Meridianae Demetae Dexter delenda est