before you get too excited...this is the same country that mandates that some % of TV and radio content be "Canadian"
It's been Canada's struggle for some time to maintain an identity in the face of some kind of ideological imperialism. Manifest Destiny is still fresh on Canadian minds, and non-points like this implying some kind of tyranny are grossly mal-informed. Our CRTC who made that ruling is the same CRTC who is ensuring net neutrality and mandating performant broadband internet as a basic telecom service. Things the FCC just thought not worth protecting for Americans.
edit: To clarify myself a bit: This is an impassioned subject for me. I think the US is a great nation—but implying something nefarious about Canadians' attempt at self-preservation, while residing next to a federation like the US, is incomprehensible.
But I bet it has played a role in the existence of some of the great Canadian shows of the last generation.
You mean, Canada should mandate certain percentage of software be written in Canada too, and if your site or software product doesn't run X% of Canadian software, you should not be able to use it within Canada? Great idea, sure.
It’s not in Canada’s national interest for Toronto to be a remote suburb of the US east coast. If and when relations between the two nations degrade, Canada needs to be able to continue functioning.
That’s the danger of the mercurial Trump administration. The random shit that speed out of the US is making everyone question everything.
So, are you agreeing with me that it'd be good for Canadian government to require software (or at least significant part of it) be made in Canada?
> If and when relations between the two nations degrade, Canada needs to be able to continue functioning.
Thus, Canada should build its own Linux, its own Windows, its own Google, its own Facebook, its own Amazon and so on... Just in case they ever have bad relationships with the US, you know. And since nobody would use those while US alternatives are available, it would make sense to ban Canadians from using US equivalents - for their own good. After all, this model is being used with great success in China.
> The random shit that speed out of the US is making everyone question everything.
I have read this phrase five times and still have no idea what do you mean. Is it wrong to question things? Is Trump making people question things they did not question before and somehow it is bad? Is Canada being hurt because people were not daring to question things before Trump and are questioning them now, and these things can not withstand questioning? Frankly, I am a bit lost here.
It's not dissimilar to the U.S. requiring that Toyota build cars in Alabama if it wants to keep selling to Americans. These things happen under the most business friendly governments and are expected to increase in the U.S. under President Trump's desired new regulations of private sector trade.
Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon all have Canadian-specific offerings operated in Canada and backed by actual Canadian employees that would be analogous to CanCon productions such as X-Files. There seems to be a misconception that CanCon means pure 100% offerings from the CBC. But that's not the case at all.
For example, here's a good take on many Canadian actors who were part of X-Files while it filmed in Vancouver. Actors ranging from Cancer Man to the Lone Gunmen were all Canadian. https://etcanada.com/photos/119349/the-x-files-canadian-conn...
Sure, for the price of government contract you can always find some things to do for some Canadians (and not that Canadians are bad at doing stuff, so they may be hired anyway, with or without this requirement, but since there is a special requirement, you could always ask for the special price...). Or invent them if needed. The funny thing is that any extra money spent on this requirement is taken from other Canadians...
> In this respect, CanCon isn't philosophically inconsistent with the government's other policies.
Oh, I'm not saying it's inconsistent with other policies. If anything, the tradition of "creating of jobs" (also known under the name of "broken window fallacy") is very popular among politicians of all kinds, and for a clear reason - the benefits of it are concentrated and easy to show, while the costs are distributed and easy to hide.
> Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Amazon all have Canadian-specific offerings
The question is not whether Canada should allow Microsoft to open its office in Canada, but whether it should force it to do so under the threat of being excluded from the Canadian market and prohibiting Canadians from using Microsoft products. Some people apparently think it'd be a great idea.
> For example, here's a good take on many Canadian actors who were part of X-Files while it filmed in Vancouver
I know a lot of quality Canadian production and actors (see my other comment in this thread about Canadian shows). Which begs the question - apparently Canadians are doing fine even on the market as strong and competitive as US TV/movie scene. Despite the fact that CBC has no way to force any US network to show Canadian content, as far as I know - they willingly do so, and not once but quite frequently. So why there's a need to do the same on Canadian market - what makes one think Canadian companies can withstand competition with Hollywood on Hollywood's own soil, but would inevitably lose in Canada if only CBC didn't take regulatory measures to prevent it?
Trump and the situation in the United States is different. We are a sort of economic empire — we industrialize culture and push it out everywhere. Kids in Africa know about the NBA and hip hop. People in China are super fans of the 90s TV show “Friends”.
almost none of the "Canadian" content relates any national values...it is almost uniformly just garbage remakes of US shows
I briefly checked your comment history... you sure have some negative things to say about Canada, huh?
I'm still interested in hearing you name some of these derivative shows that apparently make up the vast majority of Canadian television.
Let's not forget Second City Toronto, Rick Mercer, and newer comedic hits like Fubar and Letterkenny.
Say what you will about the CRTC and Canadian content rule: trust me, it's contentious in Canada and the discussion has been had for decades. So by all means, it's fine to disagree.
The CBC is a whole different matter and you shouldn't neglect the power of an independent news and broadcast corporation in a democratic country and with a strong cultural and social connection.
It's what the PBS could be with more funding and more community buy-in.
I never understood this cheap attitude. If you broke down your tax bill maybe 10$/yr might be going to the CBC. What's the big deal?
Also, here's a perspective you might not have thought of. In my opinion, CBC should not be allowed to fund itself with advertising, and should be fully funded by tax dollars.
This would be good for private TV networks because it would free that ad revenue and make it available for the private networks to use.
Naturally, they play most of those songs during the night.
If this weren't the case all we'd hear on air is American news, see only American shows. We'd have Anderson Cooper telling us what the Canadian perspective is on world events. We'd effectively be DOSed by the American perspective.
To say nothing of the francophones in Québec. They'd all be speaking English only by now, and tourists would go there like they go to New Orleans (which used to be 100% french) and say how wonderful the French 'influence' is in the region.
British, Russian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Italian, Egyptian, Saudi, Chinese and French history would like a word with you.
The only difference between nations that do and don't push such, is their ability to: those that have been able to, without exception, have done so throughout recorded history.
As an American your opinion really doesn't matter here... it's American influence these laws were created to limit.
I'd rather watch Peter Mansbrige or Brad Griffen than Anderson Coopers face any day of the week.