Canada behind on HDTV?

I'm interested in the transition to HDTV in the States, so it's always fun to compare the US experience with that of other countries. The record in Europe is spotty. As the BBC has reported, digital TV penetration in the UK market - one of the most sophisticated in Europe - is currently at 60% (the percentage of UK households have already made the switch to digital TV). And "the UK government is keen to switch off its analogue signal and will begin a region by region move to digital in 2008." But things are still a bit slow on the HDTV front. The BBC wants to be broadcasting 100% of its programs in HDTV by 2010. However, at the moment only a tiny proportion of sets sold in the UK are HDTV-ready.

It seems that Canada is also a bit slow off the mark. Macleans reported earlier this year that Canada is lagging behind the US. According to the piece, "The difference lies partly in regulatory approaches. The U.S. government has mandated that all the networks and their affiliates must be broadcasting digital signals by 2006. (Most observers agree that deadline now looks unrealistic, and 2010 is a more likely target for a full switch to digital.) Canada has opted to hold off on legislation." So while the US is less than clear on how serious it is about deadlines, Canada is even vaguer.