In the United States, governmental research in communications technology tends to be performed under defense industry contracts, whereas in Canada such governmental participation is typically intended to assure that the country will keep abreast with the rest of the world. Regardless of the motivation for governmental participation in communications technology development, however, the issue of transferring the technology from the public to the private sector must still be addressed.
When a technology is addressed either by government or under governmental auspices, a strong case may be made for extensive governmental involvement in the private use of such technology. Traditionally, the exercise of such control has been much stronger in Canada than in the United States, where the chief governmental concern in this context has been to assure that such technology is not transferred to undesirable (in the eyes of the United States government) nations.
A case in point in contemporary Canada is the debate over the control of satellite technology as that technology affects the application of cable television technology in the country. The owners of cable television operation
...