Examining the U.S.-Canadian Magazine Dispute

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1. To what extent do you think the U.S.-Canadian magazine dispute was motivated by genuine desires to protect Canadian culture?
In my view, the Canadian government has expressed genuine concern for protecting Canadian culture. Beyond magazines, there are Canadian content regulations for all broadcast media. The
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), a governmental organization, requires that radio broadcasts contain 30% or more Canadian content, and television stations between %50-%60 Canadian Content. (international.gc.ca, 1999)
Canada's public television station, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and privately owned CTV both frequently air short films dedicated to great moments in Canadian history, known …show more content…

Content must not only be Canadian in origin, but must be available in both languages, with the French language featured primarily and in some cases printed larger than the English equivalent. (Brenhouse, H. 2013)
2. To what extent do you think the government of Canada was pressured to seek to protect its market because of the financial interests of the Canadian magazine industry?
I find it difficult to believe that the Canadian government was pressured by the financial interests of the magazine industry. Even looking at this question from a purely statistical financial sense, the small percentage of magazines sold in Canada in the 1990's that were of Canadian origin would not be significant monetarily compared to the larger picture of trade relations between the
United States and Canada. Retail magazine sales in Canada in 2016 estimated around $78 Million in revenue per quarter (statista.com, 2016). Even if we were to start adding in estimated subscriptions, advertising dollars, the number pales in comparison to the figure of over $2 Billion per day of international trade between Canada and the USA (can-am.gc.ca,

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