Pros And Cons Of The Canadian Magazine Dispute

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.

During the years of 1918-1920 Canada had a brief moment of prohibition. During this period in time drinking alcohol was considered illegal. As a result many negative and positive side effects had taken place in the country. Although the ban of alcohol may have been able to do great good on Canada, the people’s reaction to it completely flipped it around. Although it may have been overall a disastrous idea; Canada still managed to benefit from prohibition just like the United States (maybe even more).

Though being a hindu nation with our separate identities, magazines has introduced western culture among us. We are far neighbors of western powerhouses and are still induced. So, countries like Canada which exist adjacent to U.S might want to protect its culture and tradition. So, I think the U.S – Canada magazine dispute has strong cultural cause. Though there might be some other benefits, Canadian government have seen but I believe to higher degree the motivation has been to protect Canadian culture and tradition.

Rules revolving around Canadian Content (CanCon) have been set in place since the 1920’s. In 2005, revisions to the 1991 Broadcasting Act were made. Since this revision was made there have been further changes to the Act trying to create the best set of rules for CanCon to be broadcasted (Dewing, 2011). CanCon is an outdated concept that is causing consumers to switch to other forms of media. The CanCon rules cannot determine what is considered Canadian and they cannot keep up with the ever-changing forms of media. Canadian producers are only getting a slim portion of the industry even with the rules in place. Therefore CanCon rules should be totally eliminated.

Secondly, closer ties to America helped us form a culture we know to this day. American media was playing through Canadian televisions and radios. In the late 1950s after Canadian’s pride and joy was aggravated by the “Avro Arrow”, Canadian aviation talent went to America and helped with the man landing on the moon. This influenced Hollywood to dedicate movies and T.V shows. Some of Canadian actresses and actors stared in the playing of Hollywood shows and movies, along with American actors and actresses. Canadians started watching more television which influenced Canadian buying behaviours, clothes, behaviours, food etc. American culture had slightly influenced Canadian culture through media. Also America has always been Canada’s number one trading partner. Gordon Morton McGregor, who was head of the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd., set up the largest automotive car company in Candaians. This car company gave many Canadians jobs since they were manufactured by Canadians however the parts that came in for the automobiles were from America. American goods were being transferred to Canada so they can manufacture cars. The Americans have a culture that is recognized as being luxuries and rich. By America trading valuable goods with Canada we gained recognition as Canada being a wealthy and luxuries country. Canada and America

Currently in Canada there are no government regulations placed upon video and film making. The certification of Canadian films and videos is passed off to the Canadian National Film Board, which has been “charged with the duty of certifying on behalf of Her Majesty moving picture films, separate sound film track, filmstrips and slides, videotape and sound recordings — produced in Canada or produced abroad by persons normally resident in Canada as being of an international educational, scientific or cultural character”(Canadian Film Certification Regulations). Therefore, the only job of the Canadian National Film Board is to certify it a film classifies as Canadian, yet does not regulate its content or distribution. This follows the same pattern as many countries such as the United States, and the United Kingdom. If Canadian film and video was regulated by the government, certainly some regulations may affect its growth compared to other countries without regulations. While others would help guide the industry towards a new path of growth and success. Canadian films and videos have, historically, had a difficult time breaking into the industry. With our close neighbour the United States over taking all of the spotlight with their major motion pictures. “Given the longstanding difficulty Canadian-made feature films have had in penetrating Canadian movie theatres, television has been their most reliable means of distribution”(Gasher, Skinner, Lorimer, 2012,229). Certain Canadian government regulations on film and video could help change this unbalanced representation of film and video in Canada. Government regulations placed upon guaranteeing a certain amount of Canadian feature films playing in cinemas would greatly benefit our film and video industry. Currently “Hollywood is the dominant player in the

In this light, Canada, as “one of the most open advanced economies in the world”, has close to 60 to 70 per cent of GDP, which is attributable to both exports and imports (Arthurs 3). The heavy reliance on globalization in Canada traces back to the political climate of the early 20th century due to it being a loyal ally to the United States. Of course, unlike America, Canada does not have privatized groups on the same scale. For instance, the United States has privatized health care and prison systems (in light of the recent Trump administration universal healthcare is currently unknown).

The Canadian Magazine Dispute is one of the unmistakable clashes with suggestions for social concerns. It is one of the few issues inside and out that were embraced for the sake of shielding nearby societies from globalization. The debate originates from offering of the high rate of remote magazine, which are American, making a negative effect on the Canadian magazine industry.

Canada and the United States along with being a huge part of Western society share similar values and beliefs. However, when it comes down to governmental policies as well as their foreign policies, that is the point where the two countries start to show their differences. Canada’s relationship with the Americans has been relatively peaceful, however, Canadians always had an interest in independence, which was demonstrated by their separation from the British Crown and the Battle of Quebec. During the battle they defeated an invading US military that essentially wanted Canadians to join their Congress. This instance along with many others are one of the factors that manifested the idea of Anti-Americanism, which would soon evolve from simply

1. As the Canadian governmental committee put it, "magazines constitute the only national press .. in Canada, …..( it) can help foster in Canadians a sense of themselves." A legacy that is threatened by more than 100 US Magazines established in Canada. If the majority of magazines are printed in America, there will be no need for printing magazines in Canada. In an effort to preserve this identifying mark of Canadian identity, culminated into the Canadian magazine dispute. When thoroughly analyzed, America, the biggest foreign magazine contributor in Canada is to blame for the dispute. In an effort to monitor and control imports of foreign publications. Canada was only trying to protect what rightfully belongs to them.

The CBC had a profound effect to the development of identity, heritage, and citizen in Canada because it proved that it could act as a powerful force in establishing a sense of national unity across the whole Canada. The CBC also countered the American influence and defended Canadian culture. It is recognized as one of Canada's greatest cultural institutions. It has become a leader in producing and distributing distinctive Canadian content, and symbolizes Canadian-made-media content around the

Canadian’s have very diverse culture; we are one of the many countries that allow our citizen with several rights and freedoms. Canadian belief that citizens have the right of practicing any religion of our choice freely. Did you know that in Canada there are over 181 ethnic origins and over 93 languages spoken every day? With these origins come various traditions and celebration. To celebrate all these cultures Canadian hold heritage or culture fest every year in the summer. Canadians are allowed expressing themselves however they would like. Weather it is through art, clothing or literature; they can do it as long as it not hurting or offending anyone. One of the most valued arts in Canada is indigenous art. In school children learn about

“The Constitution Act, 1867 contained specific provisions designed to protect Quebec 's distinct culture and language” (Nicholson, 2003) Canada has always given guarantees to protect the Quebec culture, a policy would be nice but it is not an absolute must have as he portrays. Tremblay then moves on to say, that U.S Department of Commerce would like to deregulate the communications industry and how horrible this would be for Canada . He points out that once this happens the U.S will pressure Canada to do the same. Yet, he seems to forget that Canada is a sovereign nation that does not have to give in to U.S pressure. Canada sets its own policies without being influenced by others. It has and will always be this way. Quebec is already officially recognized as distinct, it is entrenched in the constitution. Simply put, it does not get any better than that.

I’m sure American's government would never allow another country's culture to have that much influence on its citizens. I'm sure America would also try to only allow a certain percentage of magazines and ban all others. It is interesting how much America seems to not care about the culture of Canadians, but instead stress that business is business. If certain rules and taxes are enforced to protect the culture, retaliation is not something that should happen. Unfortunately, the United States did just that.

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.