Canadian Magazine Dispute: The Impact Of Globalization On Local Culture

Canada as a nation has been striving to characterize itself as more ?Canadian? for decades. This has included numerous struggles and events such as protests, bans, and the creation of the Massey Commission, to encourage national development in the arts, and support major companies like the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Film Board (NFB). However, this has not been an easy task for the Canadian government, as major influences from below the border (the United States) have been captivating the Canadian audiences by large. American media has had a momentous revolutionizing effect on Canada, even through efforts made to define Canada with its own cultural identity.

Canada’s media industries have played a huge role in the Canadian culture. The Canadian culture has integrated with other countries forming a successful globalization. Many countries including the United States have contributed to the success in Canada’s media industries. The success of globalization between all of the countries was predicted by Marshall McLuhan and ever since his prediction, the world can be depicted as a global village. The global village can be viewed as a tool, a tool that is bringing the world together, despite the different languages, locations, and diverse cultures. With new technologies being developed more often, the communication skills between different countries are very successful. Canada’s diversity in their media and policies has established a global village with people around the world, allowing them to relate to the Canadian culture.

Since the country’s conception in 1867, Canada has lived in the shadow of it’s southerly neighbour, the United States of America. Through the years, what started out as a country with very distinct culture has morphed and become Americanized. Historically speaking, American influence has had a great economical impact on Canada. Speaking about the Americanization of Canada, Pierre Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada, has said, “Americans should never underestimate the constant pressure on Canada which the mere presence of the United states has produced…” This pressure has changed the way Canadians live and conduct business. This pressure has Americanized the Canadian economy. American culture has a very far reaching effect on Canada with many trickle down effects. Americanization of the Canadian economy has lead to the American control of the Canada’s corporate structure, Canadian dependence on American capital, turned the Canadian economy into a mirror image of the American economy, and has led to loss of

Due the the geographic reason, Canadian culture is often seen as similar to the United States. For instance, language, political beliefs, food, religion and social well-being. I agree that most part of the American popular culture is being adopted by most Canadians because of the powerful media such as movies, films and books are produced by the American. Massey-Leveque, who is a chancellor of the University of Toronto, argued that “ Canada is cultural dependent in its ‘uncritical use of American education philosophy”(as cited in Gasher, M., Skinner, D., & Lorimer,R., 2012,p.196). Hollywood, one of the biggest and most famous film corporations in the world, is devastating part of the Canadian culture. The reason is that by multi-billion

For example, most magazines focus on American celebrities and American trends. People’s magazine is very popular, with 3 527 541 copies paid and verified. It’s an American magazine that talks about celebrity gossip. Reader’s Digest is also quite popular, with 4 288 529 copies paid and verified. It’s a general interest family based magazine.1 There is also Twist, a magazine popular among teens. It teaches them about all the different beauty and fashion trends that are currently popular.2 However, these magazines almost never touch upon what’s happening in Canada, as people assume that what’s going on in the USA must also be happening in Canada. While that’s not completely true, events happening in the USA will likely affect Canada in one way or another. Pierre Elliotte Trudeau even stated, “Living next to the United States in some way like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even tempered the beast: one is affected by every twitch and grunt.”3 Finally, Canada covers a lot of what’s happening in the USA but the states don’t do the same with Canada. As Canadian author Margaret Atwood said, “The boarder separating the two countries is like a one-way mirror through which Canadians can see the United States but Americans can’t see

What does a review of the current press reveal about the attitudes of Canadians in terms of global business and international trade?

According to Elections Canada (2011), the right to vote is a major equitable right that is ensured by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It is the foundation of democracy. When we vote, we pick the representatives who will make the laws and strategies that represent how we live together. The authenticity of an administration lies in the way that it is chosen. Low voter turnouts may call into inquiry the legitimacy of authority. While democracy includes a great deal holding elections every five years, voting is an effective approach to make an impression on governments and legislators. The more votes, the more compelling the message is. Ultimately, each vote counts. To vote in Canada at any level of government, you must be a Canadian citizen. (“Why Should I Vote”, 2011) As a result, masses of adults who reside in Canada are denied the right to vote because they are not Canadian citizens. There is no question that the status of citizenship has been contested since the migration trend in Canada soared the past 20 years. (Siemiatycki, 2011) These residents work, pay local taxes, use city services, send their children to school but cannot vote. (Munro, 2008) Giving non-citizens voting rights would give permanent residents an opportunity to participate in decisions made on local services and issues, fostering a sense of

Tremblay uses some significant points to establish his argument and prove his position and opinion. The first issue he raises is the presence of American programs on Quebec television, where he mentions that about one third of the total television supply is of foreign origin mainly American, which is not so bad but he does reveal that the presence of foreign products is much higher in Canada compared to the United States. He also states that during the evenings, between six o’clock and midnight, the situation is even better because “the proportion of Canadian content attains 73%”6. He mentions that the French-language television stations for the most part, respect the “Commission’s regulatory quota fixing a 60% minimum for Canadian content during prime time”7. The part that Canadians should be concerned with is the area of entertainment, particularly drama programming such as series, films and cartoons. He indicates that the percentage of drama programming broadcast produced locally by francophone Quebecois television stations decreased from 16.9% in 1982, to less than 10% in 1989, which is quite a significant plunge. An entertainment sector that is really vulnerable to American culture is the production of films. In 1990, Tremblay states that according to The Social Communication Board, compared to 55% American films, there were

The Canadian government identified magazines as an important touchstone of Canadian natural identify. If the government recognizes this as a national identify, then those who purchase it are showing loyalty to their father land and preserving their culture for the younger generation.

Ever since the 1950’s more of the American culture has been known to influence Canadian ways of living through the media.

Tensions between the French and English speaking Canadians has been a topic issue for quite some time now. Throughout the years it has been questioned as to wether or not the French and English speaking Canadians have the potential ability to be together as a nation. Various votes have been held in order to try and establish what the people of Canada feel about this situation. However, the history of the English and French speaking Canadians prove that Canada is an impossible nation. Foreign Policies, such as the Naval Services Bill, the Boer War and Conscription all contribute to why Canada is an impossible nation. Political Issues involving the Constitution Act, 1982, the Referendum Act Two, 1995 and the Clarity Act are three other

If Canada wants to protect their national identity, they must all embrace each other’s cultures, instead of creating multiple broadcasts that preach one view or culture. Without state governed media, the dominance of US products in Canada would diminish its identity as a nation, fail to serve the public interest and create less profits causing more advertising and less content in the media. Government regulated media proves to be more favourable and beneficial than policies based off of self-regulated solutions when addressing Canada’s media industries and cultural

Canadian and American cultural views were different which was proved because one is multicultural and the other is not. Canada was known as “mosaic” which means immigrants from any ethnic group were accepted here and were allowed to practice their religion. Therefore, they have a double identity ,meaning they are their ethnic group before a Canadian citizen as in Japanese-Canadian, Asian Canadian and so on . Whereas ,American culture was known as the “melting pot “, where they accept other cultures however they encouraged their citizens to give up their original culture ( Wells ,10 and 11 ). Canadian’s usually describe themselves as “NOT AMERICAN“(Wells,35) . Many Americans view Canada as a positive nation and as a better environment to live in then the United States . A legal sectary from Gastonia ,North Carolina said “Canada’s such a terrific place, I’d move there tomorrow if I could” (Wells, 35). This proves that Americans want to come to Canada since it is a safer environment due to it’s unique culture. Canadians are recognized as more modest, less aggressive and more down to earth then their southern neighbors (Wells,35).

I suspect that the real motive of the Canadian government was not to protect Canadian culture in this dispute with the US. But rather, it seemed to concern more with political and economic factors. As appeared in the article, the Canadian government finally gave in and went on to settle the dispute (The Levin Institute, [1]). To me, that seems somewhat irrational to suddenly give up on one’s culture like they did, when the US threated to retaliate with trade barriers. As a speculation, I believe the dispute was motived by political and economic concerns. The Canadian government was attempting to defend the local media from a total domination by foreign media since it implies that Canadian businesses will be paying foreign corporations to have their products and services advertised on a magazine, even when local magazines have the capacity to provide the same type of service. Simply put, the concern seems to be related to the higher outflows of capital.

Globalisation is the process of interconnectedness and the integration of national and regional culture, economies, and society through the global network of communication, immigration, transportation and trade (Financial Times Lexicon, 2017). According to Reiche (2014), globalisation did not mean much in the past fifty years. It could be primarily focused on the trade and also foreign direct investment which are the economic side of the world but it has been expanded to a broader range which including media, culture, technology, trades and political factors nowadays. Although globalisation is considered as a wide range nowadays, it still can be classified as four main characteristics which are stretched social relations, intensification of flows, increasing interpenetration, and global infrastructure (Held, 2004). However, cultural imperialism has the most typical impacts on globalisation. This essay will define and explain cultural imperialism and its impact from the pessimistic globalist and transformationalist perspective.