The Hon. Brian Tobin, M.P., P.C.,
Minister of Industry.
C.D. Howe Building
11th Floor, East Tower
235 Queen Street
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0H5

Dear Minister,

As I am sure you are aware, the European Commission, 19 states of the United States, the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice in the United States have each investigated the anti-competitive practices of the Microsoft Corporation.

The purpose of this letter is to enquire whether there has been any investigation into the activities of this foreign corporation in Canada and to ask about the policies of the Government of Canada regarding fair competition. Clearly, this corporation has not competed fairly in the United States, is it possible that the corporation has behaved in a similar manner in Canada?

An examination of the role of Microsoft in Canada is made more urgent by the recent Code Red Worm, which points to the public vulnerability from the unreliable software of an unaccountable foreign corporation.

In June, the U.S. Appeals Court vacated the lower court's remedy, but unanimously upheld the lower court's determination that the corporation engaged in anti-competitive activity to maintain its monopoly in the operating system market.

Quite aside from the corporation's general behaviour, there are questions raised by the Microsoft Corporation purchase of shares of its main competitor in the office productivity market - the Corel corporation. It is clear, from the behaviour of the Corel corporation, that the direction and drive of the company have been redirected to be compatible with the wishes of Microsoft. This change has been of concern to the United States Department of Justice and is the subject of an investigation.

It is puzzling to us that there has been no expression of concern by the Government of Canada. How different from former Liberal administrations, when the maintenance of a Canadian owned industrial capacity was a central policy objective.

In these circumstances, we would be grateful if you could inform us whether Canadian law is adequate to handle behaviour such as that of the Microsoft Corporation and, if so, what actions being have been taken or are planned to address this matter.

It is clear that Microsoft has offended egregiously against the laws of the United States. Separately we are forwarding an email version of this letter to provide background information for your staff.

We look forward to your response and to the opportunity to discuss these matters with you or your senior officials.

Yours truly

Calvin C. Gotlieb

Emeritus Professor Calvin C, Gotlieb
Department of Computer Science
University of Toronto

Professor Andrew Clement
Faculty of Information Studies and Department of
Computer Science
University of Toronto

Colin J. Williams
Brockville, ON