Forget philosophical battles over free-market democracy - how, exactly, is this going to work?
Only in official Ottawa could tales of tense backroom negotiations over who should get to host the next round of federal election debates so swiftly take on a conspiratorial tone.
But like a Fight Club-esque twist that makes you flip back to the beginning to reread in an entirely different light, the signs of a coming confrontation between the governing Conservatives and Canada's major broadcasters were there all along.
Last fall, documents purportedly leaked from a presentation to cabinet by Canadian Heritage Minister Shelly Glover suggested the government was actively considering amending federal copyright laws to allow unlimited use of "news content" — including TV and radio clips — in political advertisements produced by registered parties and candidates.
A few months earlier, representatives from CBC/Radio Canada, CTV, Rogers and Shaw (Global News) had taken the rare step of banding together to announce that they would no longer air political advertisements that include material taken from their airwaves without their express authorization.
As yet, no exemption has come forward, but the fact that such a move was even under consideration was widely seen as a return shot across the bow at Canada's biggest broadcasters.
READ MORE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/federal-election-2015-conservative-move-on-election-debates-raises-questions-1.3076199
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