WorldVu

Dashing through the snow
On a one-horse open sleigh,
Over the fields we go,
Laughing all the way;
Bells on bob-tail ring,
making spirits bright,
What fun it is to ride and sing
In a sleighing song tonight.

Jingle bells, jingle bells,
jingle all the way!
O what fun it's to ride
In a one-horse open sleigh.

Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

Frosty the snowman was a very happy soul,
With a smokey pipe and a button nose
and two eyes made out of coal.
Frosty the snowman is a fairy tale, they say,
He was made of snow but the children
know how he came to life one day.
thumpdy thump thump,thumpdy thump thump
look at frosty go
thumpdy thump thump, thumpdy thump thump
over the hills off snow

Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

have a holly, jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
Oh by golly jolly,
Have a holly Christmas this year.
Have a holly, jolly Christmas
It's the best time of the year
Oh by golly jolly,
have a holly Christmas this year.

Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

Deck the halls with boughs of holly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
'Tis the season to be jolly
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la
Don we now our xxx apparel.
Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la
Troll the ancient Yuletide carol.
Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town
Santa Claus is coming to town

Here comes Santa Claus!
Here comes Santa Claus!
there he go, there he go, go santa

Here comes Santa Claus!
Here comes Santa Claus!
there he go, there he go, go santa

------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
BUILDING THE INFORMATION SOCIETY:
MOVING CANADA INTO THE 21ST CENTURY
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------

Policies and initiatives to facilitate Canada's
transition to an information society and
knowledge economy by:

-   developing Canada's Information Highway
-   making sure Canadians can seize its benefits
-   providing a prominent place for Canadian content
-   ensuring affordable, accessible and
    responsive government.

The Information Highway is a work in progress.
It is more than the Internet or World Wide Web

* though for millions of Canadians, the Net is
indeed an opportunity to glimpse the promise of
the future. It is more than the digital switches
and intelligent networks of the Canadian
telecommunications system
* though without them,
the Information Highway would not be possible.
The Information Highway will be more than a
500-channel universe. It is more than the
broadcasters and cable companies of the Canadian
broadcasting system
* though their success will
be essential.

It will be all of these
* and more.

Like the Internet, some parts of the
Information Highway are already touching our
lives. This includes ATM bank machines,
credit and debit cards, computerized airline
reservation systems. These technologies have
changed the way we work, play and learn. The
emerging Information Highway holds the promise
of even more dramatic changes.

With that in mind, the Government of Canada has
prepared an action plan designed to ensure that
Canadians have the Information Highway they
need and want
* not something imposed upon
them.

This will require concerted efforts by governments,
the private sector and institutions. Like the
Information Highway itself, this plan is a work
in progress. Parts of the plan are already in place
or under way. Others will come into play soon.


                          *****

           PROMISE OF THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY/1

    -   Knowledge-based industries are growing
        faster than any other sector of the Canadian
        economy. In the computer services industry
        alone, jobs grew from 79 000 in 1993 to 99 000
        within a year.
    -   Employment in Canada's cultural sector,
        which constitutes 2.7 percent of our GDP, grew
        by 32 percent between 1981 and 1991. As demand
        grows for new forms of entertainment and
        information, this growth could escalate.
    -   Traditional manufacturing, resource and
        agricultural industries
* long the foundations
        of Canadian economic well-being
* are joining
        service industries such as banking and
        travel in their increased use of the new
        technologies. Manufacturers use information
        technologies to find export markets and fill
        orders from around the globe. Resource
        companies use these technologies to gain
        access to the scientific and marketing data
        necessary for sustained growth
* and
        sustainable development. These enabling
        effects of the Information Highway are
        building a foundation for competitiveness
        in the global economy.

                          *****


ACTION PLAN GOALS
----------------------------------------------------

The action plan aims at providing Canadians
with a national framework for building an
Information Highway that meets Canadians'
needs, a framework that will facilitate
Canada's transition toward an information
society and knowledge economy. It represents
a comprehensive response to this new reality,
involving a government-wide effort by more than
30 federal departments and agencies.

The action plan is made up of four strategic
thrusts. Taken together, they address the many
issues raised within the federal jurisdiction
by the transition to a knowledge society and
the urgent need to move ahead. These four
thrusts involve the following policies and
initiatives:

-   Building Canada's Information Highway by
    creating a competitive, consumer-driven policy
    and regulatory environment that is in accord
    with the Canadian public interest and that is
    conducive to innovation and investment by
    Canadian industry in new services on the
    Information Highway.
-   Growing Canadian content on the
    Information Highway, thereby strengthening our
    ongoing national cultural dialogue and creating
    economic growth and jobs.
-   Realizing the economic and social
    benefits for all Canadians of the Information
    Highway and allowing them to participate fully
    in the emerging information society.
-   Getting government right by ensuring
    better services and more affordable, accessible
    and responsive government and making government
    a model user and a catalyst for Information
    Highway developments across Canada.


                          *****

              CANADA'S INFORMATION HIGHWAY

    This action plan is intended to ensure that the
    enormous enabling power of Canada's Information
    Highway can be harnessed to create jobs and
    open up new realms of economic possibility and
    competitiveness for Canadian firms, small and
    large, in every sector of the Canadian economy.

    To the federal government, Canada's Information
    Highway is a vision of a low-cost, high-quality
    network of networks so interconnected and
    interoperable that access to one network means
    transparent access to all.

    Canadian content must have a prominent place on
    Canada's Information Highway, both to create
    jobs and to intensify the ongoing cultural
    dialogue that makes us Canadians.

    Canada's Information Highway can and must be
    used to strengthen our health system, as well
    as to build a culture of lifelong learning that
    will help all Canadians seize the opportunities
    of the emerging knowledge society.

    The federal government believes that all
    Canadians must have affordable access to the
    Information Highway, no matter where they live.

    Canadians must be able to enjoy the full
    benefits of electronic commerce to transact
    their business instantly from home or office or
    shop floor.

    All personal information must be legally
    protected, especially with the advent of
    electronic commerce.

    The enabling power of Canada's Information
    Highway must be used to get government right
*

    to help give Canadians more affordable,
    accessible and responsive government. 

                          *****


                          *****

          PROMISE OF THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY/2

    -   The building of Canada's Information
        Highway by Canadian firms will require
        investment worth tens of billions of
        dollars over the next decade. This
        investment will result in jobs and
        growth for Canadians.
    -   People will be able to telecommute to
        work, instead of taking a bus, car or train,
        bringing us closer to the ideals of a clean
        environment and sustainable development.
    -   From home, these same people may use the
        Information Highway to shop or bank
        electronically
* or play the latest
        video game.
    -   The Information Highway should allow us
        to address the differences in knowledge of,
        access to and use of new technologies within
        society, including the different realities of
        men and women.
    -   The Information Highway has the potential
        to involve ever more Canadians in our ongoing
        national cultural dialogue and the debates
        that shape our national community.
    -   Lifelong learning is both an ideal and a
        future necessity. Everyone's skills will
        need updating on an ongoing basis. With the
        Information Highway, schools, teachers and
        courses will be easily available.
    -   Geography will no longer be an obstacle
        for people with something in common getting
        together. Virtual communities are a growing
        reality.
    -   Telemedicine, electronically enhanced
        administrative systems, and timely gathering
        and analysis of health information will help
        improve the health of Canadians.
    -   Government will grow more accessible and
        responsive. Citizens will be able to reach
        government officials and obtain useful
        information and services using electronic
        means.

                          *****


THE CHALLENGE AND THE URGENCY
------------------------------------------------------

Our major trading partners
* the United States,
Japan and the European Union
* have all launched
multi-billion-dollar initiatives and major
policy and regulatory overhauls to encourage
the construction of their parts of the
Information Highway.

                        *****

    The first challenge facing Canadians is to
    facilitate Canada's transition into the
    knowledge society.

                        *****

We already have a solid foundation for Canada's
Information Highway. We can take pride in
having created one of the most advanced
telecommunications and broadcasting systems
in the world. That system is the result
of a concerted national effort to bridge the
barriers of distance, climate and geography
that have always separated Canadians.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, Canada took
the first steps toward reforming the policy,
legislative and regulatory framework for
telecommunications and broadcasting. Those
steps encouraged competition and new services,
and started us on the road to an environment in
which Canada's Information Highway can rapidly
evolve.


                        *****

    If we fall behind our major trading partners in
    building our Information Highway, its worldwide
    counterpart will come to Canada
* later
* and
    not the way Canadians want to see it.

    Failure to seize the opportunity of using
    Canada's Information Highway will also result
    in reduced competitiveness and the loss
    of high-growth knowledge industries and
    high-quality jobs.

    The social costs in terms of lost job
    opportunities will be enormous. Our national
    cultural dialogue will languish and our
    governments will be less able to keep up
    with the rapidly changing realities of
    the electronic age.

                      *****


But these are only first steps, and a sound
foundation is not the finished structure.
Estimates place the cost of building Canada's
Information Highway in the order of tens of
billions of dollars.

The government's plan of action squarely
addresses these challenges with policies and
initiatives to ensure that Canadians can seize
the opportunities of the new reality.


THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S STRATEGY
------------------------------------------------------

The Government of Canada has been busy laying
the groundwork for the Information Highway. In
the January 1994 Speech from the Throne, the
Government of Canada promised Canadians a
strategy to develop and implement a Canadian
Information Highway. In spring 1994, Industry
Minister John Manley released a strategic
framework to guide this process and established
the Information Highway Advisory Council (IHAC)
to advise the government.

The strategic framework set out five operating
principles to guide the development of Canada's
Information Highway:

-   an interconnected and interoperable
    network of networks
-   collaborative public and private sector
    development
-   privacy protection and network security
-   competition in facilities, products and
    services
-   lifelong learning as a key design element
    of Canada's Information Highway.


These principles were intended to ensure that
the development of the Information Highway
would meet three strategic objectives:

-   creating jobs through innovation and investment
    in Canada
-   reinforcing Canadian sovereignty and cultural
    identity
-   ensuring universal access at reasonable cost.


THE INFORMATION HIGHWAY ADVISORY COUNCIL
------------------------------------------------------

These principles and objectives shaped the work
of the Information Highway Advisory Council, a
group of 29 distinguished Canadians drawn from
the telecommunications, cultural and information
technology industries and institutions; from
the artistic, creative and educational communities;
and from consumer and labour groups.

In September 1995, the Advisory Council released
its final report, Connection, Community, Content:
The Challenge of the Information Highway, which
contains some 300 recommendations for government
action.

The Advisory Council's report, along with ongoing
consultations with other groups, provided valuable
guidance for the development of the government's
action plan.


------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
BUILDING CANADA'S INFORMATION HIGHWAY
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------

The Government of Canada believes that Canadian
companies must build a low-cost, high-quality
Canadian Information Highway that truly responds
to Canadian needs in all their diversity. The
private sector should undertake the necessary
investment in infrastructure, bearing the risks
and reaping the associated rewards
* to the benefit
of all Canadians.

To this end, the Government of Canada is moving
rapidly to create a competitive environment

in which Canadian firms can be innovative and
create wealth and jobs for all Canadians.

Competition must, however, be sustainable and
must be consistent with those cultural and
social goals that are central to the Canadian
experience. Competition will create
* and,
indeed, is already creating
* a consumer-driven
environment that will ensure the Information
Highway meets the needs of all Canadians.

The government is actively encouraging the new
services that will form essential parts of this
advanced network infrastructure. The government
will stimulate market-driven research and
development (R&D) on Information Highway-related
technologies, applications and services and will
encourage adoption of the open international
standards that will allow all parts of this network
of networks to communicate with each other. 


------------------------------------------------------
          BUILDING CANADA'S INFORMATION HIGHWAY
------------------------------------------------------

                                          Action
Initiatives                          Taken    Upcoming

CREATING A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
Convergence policy                               -
Harmonization of ownership rules       -
Overseas telecommunications policy               -

ENCOURAGING NEW SERVICES
Advanced satellite services
    for multimedia                               -
Global mobile satellite policy         -
New wireless broadband services        -
Personal communications services       -
Digital television                               -
Digital radio                                    -

STIMULATING INFORMATION HIGHWAY R&D
Science and Technology Strategy        -
Phase 2 of CANARIE                     -

MAKING NETWORKS TALK TO EACH OTHER
Further measures on standards                    -
Standards setting with industry                  -

------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------


CREATING A COMPETITIVE ENVIRONMENT
------------------------------------------------------

The push for a competitive environment has
already brought results in the markets for
telephones, terminal equipment, cellular phone
systems, long distance telephone services and
advanced telecommunications services. Canadian
consumers can now choose among an ever-widening
range of progressively less expensive and more
powerful communications services and equipment.

Consistent with trends in Canada and
internationally, this action plan envisages
greater competition within the Canadian
communications system.


COMPETITION BETWEEN TELEPHONE AND CABLE

Within the next few months, the ministers of
Industry and Canadian Heritage will finalize
the policy framework governing competition
between cable television and telephone
companies, clearing the way for full
competition between them.

Until now, cable and telephone companies have
been in very different businesses. Cable-TV
companies, with their one-way broadband
distribution systems, have delivered
broadcasting services that are regulated in
light of the cultural objectives of the
Broadcasting Act. In contrast, the telephone
companies, with their switched networks, have
provided telecommunications services, regulated
under telecommunications legislation. Historically,
broadcasting and telecommunications have been the
"two solitudes" of the Canadian communications
system, separated from each other by protective
layers of policy, legislation, regulation
and technology.

In the past few years, the technological barriers
between these two kinds of businesses have largely
disappeared. In 1994, the government issued an
Order in Council outlining policies for introducing
competition in the provision of facilities, services
and products.


                         *****

    The government will issue a policy on
    convergence that will allow cable-TV and
    telephone companies to compete with each
    other in their core businesses.

                        *****


The policy will provide a level playing field
for competition while ensuring that the cultural
objectives of the Broadcasting Act are fully
respected. The resulting competition between
two of the largest industries in the Canadian
communications system
* in both the delivery of
television signals and the provision of local
telephone services
* will stimulate investment
and innovation in the new technologies and services
critical to building Canada's Information Highway.

Domestic ownership requirements for broadcasters
have been a means of ensuring that the Canadian
broadcasting system meets Canadian objectives.
These requirements, under the Broadcasting Act,
have been different from those under
telecommunications legislation, resulting in
greater difficulty for the cable industry in
raising capital in foreign markets. This year,
the Minister of Canadian Heritage released new
broadcasting rules for domestic ownership more
in line with those for the telecommunications
industry.


THE GLOBAL INFORMATION HIGHWAY

Canada places high priority on ensuring that
Canada's links with the rest of the world will
become stronger through the emerging global
Information Highway.

For some years, Canada has moulded its
telecommunications policies to reinforce our
role as a major trading nation. Indeed, if
Canadians are to find international markets
and keep in touch with global events, they
must have a variety of low-cost, high-quality
connections to the world, provided by a range
of suppliers in a competitive environment.

Until the past few years, Canadian telecommunications
companies were not encouraged to invest in the
growing number of global and regional mobile
satellite services soon to be launched by
international consortia. In November 1994,
the Minister of Industry released a new policy
framework for such services. This policy provides
that Canadian service providers may use such
satellites as long as there are clear benefits
to Canadians and the Canadian share in these
partnerships is proportionate to Canadian use.

Internationally, Canada has taken a lead role
within the Group of Seven (G-7), the Organisation
for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD)
and other international bodies in setting rules
that favour the rapid evolution of global networks
and services. Similarly, Canada has actively
participated in the trade negotiations aimed
at securing a General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS).


                        *****

    The Minister of Industry will soon complete
    a major review of overseas telecommunications,
    focussing on the role of Teleglobe Canada. The
    review addresses the question of how best to
    meet the needs of Canadians in an increasingly
    competitive global economy.

                        *****


The Government of Canada is fully committed to
ensuring that the global Information Highway
is both English and French. To this end, the
Minister for International Cooperation and
Minister responsible for Francophonie announced
in April 1996 a contribution of $400 000 to the
Centre international pour le Développement de
l'Inforoute en Français (CIDIF). The Moncton-
based centre's primary aim is to promote

la Francophonie on the Information Highway
and to act as a catalyst in this regard.


ENCOURAGING NEW SERVICES
------------------------------------------------------

The ministers of Industry and Canadian Heritage
will continue to press forward aggressively
with policy measures and regulatory initiatives,
through the Canadian Radio-television and
Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), to encourage
the development of new services and access links
throughout the Canadian communications system.
With respect to the licensing of some selected new
services, the Minister of Industry is also exploring
the use of auctioning the radio spectrum and other
market-based approaches.

Many of the new services involve wireless
communication, which, for some applications,
provides a less expensive link to the Information
Highway. For people in Canada's North, in remote
or rural areas, satellites and a variety of services
provided over the airwaves will represent the
best ways of connecting to the Information Highway.
Other new services promise significant improvements
in the quality of what the consumer receives,
as is the case with digital broadcasting.


MULTIMEDIA BY SATELLITE

By the end of 1999, the advanced satellite services
flowing from Industry Canada's Advanced Satcom
Initiative will place Canada in the forefront of
the information economy and allow us to compete
effectively in the rapidly growing domestic,
fegional and international markets for multimedia
services.

These satellite-based multimedia services will
be available across Canada and will complement
those provided by terrestrial means, such as
optical fibre. Satellite-based services, if
implemented early enough, represent an effective
and comparatively inexpensive means of satisfying
early demand and stimulating the market for the
new services that will eventually be provided by
optical fibres.

Through this initiative, Industry Canada has
supported and shared the risks of the private
sector as it undertakes the early development
and commercialization of these new satellite-
based multimedia services. The first phase has
just ended, with the submission of a business
plan calling for a regionally based, commercial
satellite system offering multimedia services
and bandwidth on demand. The system could
involve a direct investment of $600 million by
the private sector, with the government contributing
a further $141 million. Spinoffs in the form of
indirect investment and sales in domestic and
foreign markets could exceed $4 billion.

The second phase of the initiative will start
this year and will culminate in late 1999 with
the implementation of a commercial system.


NEW WIRELESS BROADBAND SERVICES

In February 1996, the Minister of Industry
issued a policy for wireless broadband services
and a call for licence applications. These new
services, known as Local Multipoint Communications
Systems (LMCS), have the potential to provide a
range of services in urban areas over the airwaves
*
everything from TV programming to high-speed data
to telephone services
* without using traditional
wires or cable.

The Minister of Industry is expected to issue
licences under the Radiocommunications Act
for LMCS by fall 1996. A year later, services
should be up and running. Applicants will be
evaluated in part on the extent to which they
have invested in innovative R&D and field
trials. If the applicants wish to provide
broadcasting services, they will also have to
apply to the CRTC for broadcasting licences
under the Broadcasting Act.

Because wireless broadband has the potential
to compete with local services provided by both
telephone and cable-TV companies, its introduction
will mark an important step in creating the
competitive environment needed to stimulate
the investment and innovations required to build
the Information Highway. Once in place, these
entirely new, independent local networks for
broadcasting and telecommunications will be fully
competitive with the existing networks and will
offer another choice to consumers. Over the
next 10 years, the technology could create an
estimated 12 000 to 15 000 new jobs.


NEW PERSONAL COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES

In December 1995, the Minister of Industry
licensed four companies to provide Personal
Communications Services (PCS) on a competitive
basis across Canada.


                        *****

    These compact, fully portable, low-cost
    PCS devices will give Canadians a wireless
    connection to the Information Highway, one
    that can be used for business or pleasure when
    subscribers are away from the home or office.
    Instead of having numbers assigned to a piece
    of equipment such as a home or business phone,
    subscribers will have their own personal
    numbers wherever they are. Over the next
    five years, the licensees will spend an
    expected $3 billion on these new services,
    which will create some 8500 jobs.

                        *****


PCS devices have the potential to add a new
dimension to the now-imminent competition in
local telephone services. Having a wireless on-
ramp to the Information Highway will also be
important for remote or rural areas, where the
cost of laying new high-capacity land lines may
be prohibitive.


DIGITAL BROADCASTING

The Information Highway is a digital communications
route. Measures are under way to take full advantage
of its possibilities by moving broadcasting from
its present analogue basis to a new digital
foundation. The result will be clearer, higher-
resolution pictures, better sound and less signal
degradation, as well as a new capability on the
part of broadcasters to distribute data and
value-enhanced services.


                        *****

    The start-up date for digital television, at
    least on a transitional basis, could be as
    early as mid-1998.

                        *****

In October 1995, the Minister of Canadian
Heritage established an industry-government
task force to give advice on a policy framework
to manage and coordinate the transition to
digital television in Canada.

In the case of digital radio, the process is
further along. This year, the CRTC will begin
issuing transitional licences for the provision
of digital radio services. Later this year, the
commission will begin a public process to develop
a long-term policy approach to digital radio,
laying the foundation for the transformation
of today's FM and AM radio stations into digital
radio broadcasters.


STIMULATING INFORMATION HIGHWAY R&D
------------------------------------------------------

The Government of Canada has already put in
place a number of key initiatives to stimulate
R&D, including R&D required to build the Information
Highway. Initiatives include the recently announced
Science and Technology Strategy; the Canadian Network
for the Advancement of Research, Industry and
Education (CANARIE); and a greater responsiveness
to the private sector by Industry Canada's
Communications Research Centre (CRC), the only
government laboratory focussing mainly on the
Information Highway.


SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY STRATEGY

The government now spends some $3.2 billion
on R&D by government laboratories. In addition,

the Scientific Research and Experimental
Development (SRED) tax credit provides more
than $1 billion in indirect assistance to the
private sector to conduct R&D, much of it in
the information technology area.

Three of the government's core responsibilities
*
as set out in the S&T Strategy
* will strengthen
the private sector's R&D effort on the Information
Highway. These are:

-   supporting research in universities and
    colleges, Networks of Centres of Excellence and
    other non-governmental research institutions
-   supporting private sector research and
    technology development
-   providing information and analysis, and
    building networks.

Many government laboratories are carrying out
research that touches directly on the Information
Highway. For example, Transport Canada is
championing research on Intelligent Transportation
Systems. Associated communications systems will
form part of the Information Highway.


THE COMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH CENTRE

The main focus of Industry Canada's Communications
Research Centre is R&D on advanced wireless
telecommunications services. These include digital
radio broadcasting, advanced television systems,
wireless broadband and innovative PCS information
services. Development of these networks and services
will extend the Information Highway to all parts
of Canada
* to rural, remote and northern communities
and to people dependent on mobile communications.

The lab works closely with the information technology
industry, giving private firms ever greater access
to its facilities and work. In the past year, the CRC
has held meetings with CEOs from research consortia
to develop the means for even closer collaboration
with the private sector.

Already, the CRC provides facilities that industry
can use to test new broadband applications and
technology, as well as users' responses to new
broadcasting technologies. The centre carries out
many joint research projects with small and medium-
sized companies across Canada and helps put together
private consortia for other projects. The CRC now
invites private sector scientists to work with its own
scientists on the commercialization of technologies
developed at the centre. The CRC also acts as a hub
of expertise for many Canadian information technology
companies.


CANARIE
* TESTING ADVANCED NETWORKS AND
NEW APPLICATIONS

The Canadian Network for the Advancement of
Research, Industry and Education (CANARIE)
is a Canadian success story. It grew out of the
recognition that Japan, the European Union and
the United States were spending billions of
dollars to build the high-speed broadband
networks that would form the main lanes
of their information highways. The CANARIE
consortium, created in 1993 by the federal
government and involving government, business
and key public institutions, focusses on
speeding up the deployment of such networks
in Canada. Participants share the risks and
high R&D costs associated with commercializing
advanced networking technologies, applications,
products and services.

Phase 1 of CANARIE, with $26 million in federal
funds, managed to lever several times that
amount from industry and other sources to
involve 200 firms and institutions in projects
right across Canada. CANARIE also supported
the upgrade of CA*net, the national backbone
network for Canada's branch of the worldwide
Internet.

Phase 2, which began in March 1995, will require
$78.5 million in federal funding over four years.
Last November, 50 projects involving 175 Canadian
firms, universities and research organizations
received $18.5 million to develop technology,
business, health and educational applications for
the Information Highway. This investment could
lever more than $70 million from the private
sector into the program.

In November 1995, CANARIE announced the creation
of a new high-speed broadband network, the National
Test Network for research and development. The
result is a world-class R&D facility. CANARIE
is also providing further upgrades to CA*net
for the more than one million users of Canada's
Internet.

Building on its current programs, which have been
funded to 1999, CANARIE will focus its efforts on
working with industry, government and academia in
three primary areas: the development, testing and
demonstration of advanced networking technologies
and applications; the promotion of Canadian
technology and applications, and the firms
involved in producing them, by facilitating
product development and technology partnering;
and the promotion of Canada's information society
both at home and abroad. Specific areas that will
be receiving special attention in the coming years
are the further development of the Internet in Canada;
the promotion of networking applications in support
of the health and education sectors in this country;
and the development of international partnerships,
both in connection with research network activity
and the commercialization of Canadian technology.


MAKING NETWORKS TALK TO EACH OTHER

Only open standards, universally adopted within
Canada and around the world, will allow Canada's
Information Highway to develop into an interconnected
and interoperable network of networks, where access
to one network means access to all. In the absence
of such standards, the Information Highway could
turn into a network of cul-de-sacs and footpaths that
lead nowhere. The acceptance of open international
standards is also a necessary precondition for
the emergence and growth of information-based
markets and services.


                        *****

    The Minister of Industry will take further
    measures to encourage Canadian industry to
    adopt open, interoperable standards for the
    Information Highway.

                        *****


These measures will include a joint government
)
industry effort to develop a "standards road
map" for Canada's Information Highway. Such a
road map will identify and provide the basis
for resolving key issues with respect to
interconnection and interoperability. The road
map will also be an important tool in ensuring
the compatibility of Canada's Information
Highway with its global counterpart.

This effort will complement steps taken by the
government as a model user to implement open
standards in the procurement of the major
components of its communications infrastructure.
Government procurement and standards-setting
activity with industry through the Telecommunications
Standards Advisory Council of Canada (TSACC) and
Government Enterprise Network (GENet) will
reinforce this position. The government will
also undertake a wide-ranging public awareness
campaign to convince Canadian businesses,
consumers, institutions and other levels of
government of the benefits of adopting open
international standards. A number of joint
projects, involving government, industry,
consumers and others, will also be undertaken.



------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
GROWING CANADIAN CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------

The Information Highway will give Canadian creators
and entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop new
content products and services for domestic and
global markets. Canada's existing software
and computer services industries are already
experiencing significant growth as a result of
this trend. New knowledge-based industries such
as multimedia and courseware and a range of other
information providers and packagers are emerging
quickly and growing at a startling pace. At the
same time, more traditional businesses, from
telecommunications to manufacturing to resource
companies, are expanding into the information field,
creating new profit centres that have a powerful
synergy with their core businesses. These new forms
of Canadian content are already starting to make
a significant contribution to economic growth and
job creation in Canada.

For this reason, the Government of Canada intends
to help Canadian creators and entrepreneurs develop
and market Canadian information products and services
that are competitive at home and abroad. The policy
and regulatory framework must therefore be designed
to encourage innovation, jobs and growth.


------------------------------------------------------
              GROWING CANADIAN CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------

                                          Action
Initiatives                          Taken    Upcoming

A STRATEGY FOR CANADIAN
CULTURAL CONTENT
A comprehensive strategy                         -

CONTENT AND INFORMATION
INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
Access to capital for
  multimedia producers                           -
Export development strategy                      -
Canadian content in
  Canadian classrooms                            -

DIGITIZATION OF CANADIAN CONTENT 
Government Task Force on
  Digitization                                   -
Canadian Heritage Information
  Network                             -
Access AMICUS                         -
Imaging Centre                        -
Digital Collections program           -

COPYRIGHT PROTECTION 
Determine need for further
revision of Act                       -

CREATORS AND THE NEW TECHNOLOGIES
Developing pilot projects
for training and R&D                             -

------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------


The Information Highway must also provide us
with a new and more powerful means of enriching
and invigorating the ongoing cultural dialogue
that defines our national identity, our shared
values and the common social purpose that provides
the foundation for democratic institutions. It must,
in short, deliver Canadian cultural content that
reflects our linguistic duality and cultural
diversity. It was for this reason that the
federal government sought exemptions forculture
in international trade agreements. Similarly, the
federal government's commitment to Canadian culture
remains equally strong in the new electronic
environment.


                        *****

    The Government of Canada strongly believes that
    Canadian cultural policies must be reinforced
    in relation to the Information Highway.

                        *****


Canada has an abundance of creative talent, and
Canada's cultural policies have helped it thrive
at home and abroad. Despite our location next to
the world's largest exporter of entertainment and
cultural products, Canada with only one tenth the
population is one of the most dynamic producers
of content (cultural and otherwise) on the globe.
Our robust production sector has shown it can
compete in world markets. It has also benefited
from a mix of government support initiatives that
at the same time have allowed Canadians to enjoy
a range of choice unsurpassed elsewhere in the
world. These initiatives have involved regulatory
measures, financial support, market development
and structural initiatives, not to mention the
crucial impetus to Canadian production provided
by such national institutions as the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation (CBC/SRC), Telefilm Canada
and the National Film Board (NFB). This marriage
of talent and government support has generated
a flourishing Canadian content sector that in
1992 created, directly and indirectly, some
660 000 jobs for Canadians.


A STRATEGY FOR CANADIAN CULTURAL CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------

To meet the challenges and seize the opportunities
of the Information Highway, the Government of Canada
recognizes the need for a cohesive and comprehensive
strategy on Canadian cultural content.

Therefore, the Minister of Canadian Heritage will
develop, in consultation with other ministers and
the provinces and territories, a comprehensive
strategy for Canadian cultural content in the
information society. This strategy will involve:

-   expanding opportunities for economic
    growth and job creation
-   employing a range of measures to support
    the production, distribution and promotion at
    home and abroad of Canadian cultural content
    that reflects our linguistic duality and
    cultural diversity
-   fostering an ongoing national cultural
    dialogue within Canada
-   promoting the dissemination of the
    government's public information holdings.


CONTENT AND INFORMATION INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
------------------------------------------------------

Only high-quality Canadian content and sound marketing
strategies will ensure that Canadians and people from
other countries choose Canadian material from among
the wealth of material on the Information Highway.

Access to capital is critical to the production
of high-quality content and to effective marketing.
This is especially true for the small undercapitalized
Canadian enterprises that produce multimedia content.
In the coming year, the ministers of Industry and
Canadian Heritage will identify new ways to facilitate
access to capital by Canadian multimedia producers.

The Information Highway, with its global reach and
its hunger for content, promises to open up world
markets to content producers, but many small Canadian
content producers are inexperienced in this global
marketplace.

To assist them, the ministers of Industry and
Canadian Heritage, with the ministers of Foreign
Affairs and International Trade, will work to develop
and implement an export development strategy for
Canadian content products.

Learning materials represent a major market for
Canadian multimedia producers. The Government of
Canada will consult with provincial and territorial
governments to find the most appropriate way to build,
through SchoolNet, a rich base of electronic learning
materials for the school market, with a major emphasis
on French-language and Aboriginal content. From
this secure domestic base, Canadian producers
of learning materials and courseware will be in
a better position to seek export markets.


DIGITIZATION OF CANADIAN CONTENT
------------------------------------------------------

The Information Highway is a digital highway.
For content to be available to us on the Information
Highway, it must have an underlying digital format.

One important source of such content will be the
information generated and collected by government
institutions, much of it not yet in digital form.
Another important source will be the collections
of national cultural institutions, including
the National Library, the National Archives, the
National Museum of Science and Technology, the

Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian
Museum of Nature, the National Gallery of Canada,
the National Film Board and the CBC/SRC.

These large national collections have been
built, preserved and made available chiefly at
public expense. They document and allow us to
appreciate the cultural diversity and wealth of
expression that is Canada.

Digitization of these collections offers a
unique opportunity to make them available to
Canadians across the country and to stimulate
the development of Canada's content industries.

Because of the diverse content that will travel
the Information Highway, it will be necessary
to hold extensive consultations among federal
departments to identify and foster the development
of all genres of content, both government and
non-governmental.

For 23 years now, the Canadian Heritage
Information Network (CHIN) has been breaking
new ground with respect to the digitization of
Canadian content. This special operating agency
of the Department of Canadian Heritage now provides
on-line access via the Internet to comprehensive
reference services and the 25 million objects
in the national inventories of Canadian museum
collections. Its Web site constitutes a value-added
gateway to other Canadian and international heritage
services, including virtual exhibits and special
presentations.

The National Library of Canada, through its Access
AMICUS service, allows Canadian libraries and
researchers to search electronically through
10 million bibliographic authority records for
purposes of reference, information verification,
cataloguing support and interlibrary loans. The
National Library has also begun a number of pilot
projects to digitize materials from its collections
for mounting on the World Wide Web. These can be
accessed, together with electronic versions of
National Library publications, descriptions of
the National Library's collections, services,
cultural events and pointers to other
Canadian Internet information resources, at
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca. The National Library is
also carrying out a pilot project involving the
acquisition of Canadian electronic publications
and addressing issues of access, preservation,
copyright and the need to maintain the integrity
of electronic documents.


                        *****

    The ministers of Canadian Heritage and Industry
    will create a Task Force on Digitization to
    address the following key issues:

    - selection of materials for digitization
    - funding for digital conversion
    - opportunities for revenue generation
    - navigational tools
    - standards
    - connectivity
    - copyright
    - preservation
    - partnerships.

                        *****


The National Archives of Canada, through its Web site,
provides access to information about its archival
holdings and services, including directions for
conducting archival research, virtual exhibitions,
publications, genealogical databases and guides.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English
and French services (CBC/SRC) have their own
home pages on the Internet's World Wide Web,
linking users to radio and television programs
and providing information on CBC policies. This
new technology is used not only for program
promotion and audience feedback, but for program
distribution as well. Some CBC radio/stereo programs
now offer complete audio or text versions of their
contents on the Net.

CBC/SRC television's flagship newscasts, The
National and Le Point, have their own site. The
National's interactive Discussion Threads allows
hundreds of Internet users to communicate with each
other about CBC news coverage; the site also provides
transcripts. Many other programs, including some
regional and some children's programs, also have
their own site.

The National Film Board will provide access to
its film catalogue and stockshot library through
its Internet site. The board has also worked with
CHIN and the national museums to develop new Canadian
content in other digital media such as CD-ROMs.

Many of the national museums operate Web sites
that provide introductory information about
collections and special exhibits.

In 1993, the Canadian Museum of Civilization
formed a strategic alliance with Kodak Canada
Inc. to operate an Imaging Centre at the museum.
After two years of operation, the centre has
created 40 000 photos of artifacts and digitized
150 000 images in the Kodak Photo CD format.
The museum is now offering its imaging services
to other museums and institutions in Canada and
around the world.

In November 1995, the Minister of Industry launched
SchoolNet Books of Remembrance ONLINE. The Books
of Remembrance, which list Canada's war dead,
were digitized by high school students an<]]> Ralph A. Meiers 2008-10-03T23:48:30-05:00 http://www.ralphmeiers.ca/archives/2008/10/my_sister_is_en.html Rachel & Claudio

Mars.

Clinton.

Buzz Aldrin.

Ralph A. Meiers

1997.

Rewind to Future FastForward

21st century life
I got swept away
I got 21, 000 things
That I got to do today
21st century life
Well what can I say?
The new world
Got me feeling so dirty
Think I need
To get down and play

Well now
I turned on the TV
Just in time to hear
What the Pope said
Pope said
And just a few
Tiny words later
Somebody wants
The man dead
What about famine
And disease
Well they said
It's too bad
(Oops)
Because
I'm never alone
It's not just a phone
It's a stereo

21st century life
I got swept away
I got 21, 000 things
That I got to do today
21st century life
What can I say?
The new world
Got me feeling so dirty
Think I need
To get down and play

Now I'm not a little boy
I'm in the 21st century
Well you might think
We've come
A really long way
But there's still
No equality
I watched the news
On my computer screen
Talking about
Buying my weed
Out of a vending machine
You tell me I'm free
But how can it be
When you're always
Watching me on the CCTV

21st century life
I got swept away
I got 21, 000 things
That I got to do today
21st century life
What can I say?
The new world
Got me feeling so dirty
Think I need
To get down and play

21, 21, 21
I'm talking
About 21, 21