Our strategy is one of 'firsts,' with the goal of recreating in cyberspace, the same expectations of trust, confidence and reliability that now exist in everyday commerce. And where companies think of Canada as the place to develop their E-com applications and software. The goal is to make Canada the most connected nation in the world by the year 2000. Together with business, consumers and other governments, we are making progress on various electronic commerce issues such as taxation, intellectual property, privacy, legal frameworks and cryptography policy. John Manley, our Minister of Industry, will be reporting progress in the weeks and months to come.
Electronic commerce is a global phenomenon.
Canada is not developing domestic policies in isolation but is committed to work with other countries to develop the international frameworks required to foster the growth of electronic commerce.