#2 with a Bulte

Sam Bulte being routed out of office supplied the federal election with a local dollop of blogger triumphalism – although Michael Geist, who initiated the charges of influence peddling by media industry lobbyists seeking to stamp out file-sharing via Liberal Party legislation, concedes her loss would’ve been unlikely had the NDP not been represented on the ballot by a viable rival like Peggy Nash. (Compare this to American blogging blowhard Captain’s Quarters, hailed in stateside warblogging circles for single-handedly reversing the fortunes of Paul Martin.) The message sent by residents of the Parkdale-High Park riding motivated to boot Bulte from Parliament based on her position on copyright is that the state has no place in the hard drives of the nation. However, Star columnist Martin Knelman points to several haughtier initiatives – from the National Ballet School to the permanent Film Festival Centre to enhancing Canada Council coffers – that can be credited to the losing MP. But these ventures tend to exist in a different dimension from the tastes of those berated as “pro-user zealots” by Bulte; the internet pipeline will be drained of value if the audience is expected to pay a toll to sample so many online options. And while it’s uncertain just how much impact the Conservative minority will have on altering the domain of protectionist culture, the CRTC is soliciting comments on the future of commercial radio policy, leading up to a mid-May public hearing about whether 35-year-old CanCon rules are worth sustaining – a conversation that should belatedly belie ancient delusions that commercial FM radio is the engine of the music business. What’ll be left for the Canadian Recording Industry Association to blame? Well, a report in this week’s Billboard finds disc retailers across the country saying that diminished holiday sales were entirely the result of a lack of products popular enough to get people to buy anything.