It was recently pointed out by Michael Geist that the Federal Government's spectrum auction will rake in an extra $2.5 billion over the $1.5 billion expected to be generated.

Three options were offered by Geist: fund education programs for the upcoming anti-spam and data-breach legislative initiatives; stimulate municipal wifi access projects; and/or commit to a national broadband strategy to ensure all Canadians have access to high-speed networks.

A fourth option is to spend a fraction of the $2.5 on a public consultation focused on the issues of network neutrality... Consumer advocate groups, like the saveournet.ca coalition have been calling on Ottawa to stop the telecom companies in Canada from violating the long-standing principle that the Internet is an open and neutral information network. These organizations cannot match the financial firepower of a corporate PR war chest.

For example, Bell Canada's PR spokesman Mirko Bibic has championed his company's throttling practice on the rationale that a specific minority of P2P users are causing "internet congestion" at the expense of the majority's experience. While the argument is anything but fair to reality, it has gained traction in the media as a plausible excuse for Bell's tinkering.

An honest debate cannot be had without the government stepping in and actively listening to the unfiltered voices of the Canadian public. The government needs to wake up address the topic before it is too late. With both the Competition Bureau and CRTC acknowledging that a large-scale debate must take place in the near future, the timing for Ottawa to step in couldn't be better.

The network neutrality debate raises important issues of public policy that will not be fixed by government inaction. Ottawa should not and can not paint over the problem with the simple mantra "market forces will serve the consumer best".

The competitive markets for broadband access and internet content distribution are distinctly separate, yet it is clear that the one industry directly affects the other. In just this way, a dearth of competition for network access in Canada has severely threatened the current competitiveness of the Internet's content market.

The Internet is a certainly a unique beast. Without proper public consultation we are risking the health of the goose that has laid for us so many golden eggs.