Crtc Effects On Canadian 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.

For many decades, writers and authors have accused the American influence on Canada as one of the reasons why Canada is losing its heritage, with one major aspect being the game of hockey. The institutionalization of American Culture began to take root in Canada during the late 1920’s and 1930s as technological advances, specifically the invention of the radio, allowed Canadians to enjoy American entertainment. American stations were much more reliable than Canadian ones, causing American sporting stations such as NBC and CBS to become extremely popular in Canada (Gruneau et al, 1993). As Canada was becoming intertwined with the United States (U.S.), it was becoming less of a satellite of Britain, which made it tremendously difficult for Canada’s elite to protect British ideals such as self-improvement and participating in sport for the game’s sake. (Gruneau et al, 1993). In the early 1940’s, after the great depression forced many franchises to dismantle, the National Hockey League (NHL) was left with six teams, which made up the famous “original six.” At this time, America had a strong influence on the game, as four of the original six teams were based in the United States, and all of the players in league were paid in American dollars (Gruneau et al, 1993). By the early 1960’s, televised sports were emerging in North America, and NHL players were becoming mainstream stars. Inspired by this, along with the threat of the NHL losing its television contract to the Western

The recent Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications (CRTC) (2013c) 'Broadcasting Regulatory Policy on the Distribution of Canadian Category C national news speciality services' marks a new regulatory approach to distributing competitive news and sports programming in Canada. This policy is a response to Canadians' concerns over consumer choice due to program bundling and an inability to select news and sports programs on a stand-alone basis (CRTC, 2013c; CRTC, 2014). Based on the Commission's public notice on 'Regulatory Framework for Broadcasting Distribution Undertakings and Discretionary Programming Services', the new regulation demonstrates an effort to reduce national news and sports program regulations and to

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

To begin with, American popular culture takes attention away from Canadian popular culture. Therefore, more people identify with American popular culture than Canadian popular culture. The American film industry is bigger and better than Canada’s. Furthermore,

It’s a pretty standard sociological equation that Canada has mastered. Free market proponents seem to think that if Canadians want US media, they shouldn’t have a legal choice, and should be forced to accept the violence and crime that seems to follow it. The argument goes that it should be an individual’s choice to view these things and they should also have the decisiveness and discernment to know what is acceptable in society, which makes sense, however, Western influence has a tendency to flood markets without leaving much of a choice in how to make such a decision. Thus, those who would wish to avoid such smut would be forced to see it every time they leave the house as we are here in the

Culture can be defined as the behaviours and belief characteristics of a particular social, ethnic,

Cultural issues are complicated ones to solve. Sometimes it is even tough to express opinions about them. It is an area where one has had to establish one's bona fides before weighing in. The audience has to be assured that the commentator loves Canada more or at least as much as the next person and is willing to stop at nothing to protect our culture. Trade consultants wanting to mine the cultural field are well advised to have a Can-lit or artistic icon as an immediate family member. Otherwise, they need not even bother hanging up a shingle.

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

The war in Vietnam had a very big impact on Canadians as it divided them by their response to the war. The government “tried its best to stay neutral during the Vietnam War” (pg. 231 Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues). Canada did not want to become involved in a war that was not theirs to fight, they did not send troops to fight in the war. Canada did not participate in the war and became a safe haven for Americans who would have been forced to fight. This shows that Canada can be independent and not follow what other countries tell them to do. In 1949 Canadians watched American news and saw the world through an American lens. The Canadian government did not like this; the Massey Commission was formed and, “suggested that Canadian culture needed to be protected from U.S. influences” (pg. 176 Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issues). The National Film Board (NFB) would be strengthened. The CBC, which was already a radio network, was put in charge of the development of television. Massey Commission also led to, the creation of the Canadian Council for the Arts which awarded grants to writers, artists, and theatres. Another important step was the creation of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). They regulated the airwaves and guarantee that Canadian content was played. The measures that were taken encouraged the growth of arts and culture in Canada. In the 1920s the American investment in Canada increased. American investors started to set up branch plants in Canada. They did this so that “American car makers avoided having to pay high tariffs” (pg. 63 Counterpoints: Exploring Canadian Issue) Canadians were very happy with the investments so they did not think of the long term consequences. The branch plants were a good thing because it meant more jobs but it also meant that the U.S owned Canada. Canadians did not think of that

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

1 It is highly probable that the desire to protect the culture of Canada by the Canadian Government was not genuine. This is because the magazine industry is only a small portion of the entire Canadian mass media. Hence, the situation leads us to question, what is the hidden intention and the actual motive behind Canadian Government backing its magazine industry? If the Canadian Government was genuine about protecting its culture from US, I believe that there are more effective and logical ways to protect the culture, instead of focusing to protect only the magazine industry.

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.

Since Canada and the United States share a border sometimes the advertisements from America are viewed on Canadian television. Canadian heavy viewers of U.S.-produced television seemed particularly unconscious of Canadian culture and of television's potential harm to inter-personal relations. These viewers may be either consciously attempting to become more "American" through their viewing habits; or, they may be exhibiting the subconscious acculturating effects of U.S. television viewing. From the perspective of an open-systems model (DeFleur & Ball-Rokeach, 1982) and the implications from the literature, U.S. media domination may be one of the acculturating agents, along with similar social forces; social contacts and other interpersonal