Don't underestimate the power of this decision. Canada has been at the forefront of many internet/privacy polices over the last thirty years. Countries all over the world are dealing with similar questions. So they form committees to figure out policy, committees which boil down to people. Those people say, well, if it good enough for Canada then its probably good enough for us too.

Some of this is based on Canada's political/judicial system being more similar to international norms. Canada doesn't have the strange state/federal split of the US. Nor does it have the unwritten "constitution" of the UK. So European/Asian countries can more easily translate Canadian policy this into their systems. The IT companies appreciate this too. They will want to strike a deal in Canada because that deal will very likely be mirrored elsewhere. This finding and resulting deals will have great impact.