Kudos to the Hollywood Reporter for jumping in this morning and covering (brief display) the Bulte story with an enlightening piece that includes comments from Douglas Frith of the CMPDA (movies) and Graham Henderson of CRIA.  Leaving aside Frith's bizarre comment that on copyright "Canada is beginning to look like the Libya of the OECD", the message from the Hollywood interests boils down to four points:

What we are doing is legal.  Says Henderson: "Artists and creators and people investing in them are investing in a champion."

We were forced to hold the fundraiser days before the election.  Frith notes that new campaign finance laws resulted in some MPs (presumably including Bulte) hitting their cap in 2005, thus necessitating holding off until 2006.

We don't just fund Bulte.  Frith admits that they have also funded two Conservatives (Rajotte and Oda – see The Sad Reality of Copyright Policy in Canada posting for more on Oda).  Henderson practically calls out to MPs who want some recording industry cash stating that "this is an issue of principle, not party. We're delighted to find other parliamentarians who strongly support the rights of artists to be protected from theft."

We need to lobby.  Frith acknowledges that there are divisions in cabinet over stronger copyright laws thereby necessitating what he euphimistically describes as "coalition building."

I think this speaks for itself.