Canadian Magazines

In fact, the dispute of the Canadian magazines was a consequence of a tentative to protect the market for the publications of the neighboring country. American magazines were getting a lower cost of advertising as well as printing, which greatly reduced the competitiveness of Canadian magazines. It was also found that the bulk of the magazine market in Canada was dominated by foreign publications. The arguments used by those who defended the market reserve were that of cultural protection, since, according to them, the protection of Canadian magazines would be necessary as a way of preserving a content more conducive to local culture. However, the two countries are signatories to supranational trade rules, which prohibit such protectionist

It is important not to forget that American culture has an expansionist character. However, the decision to acquire domestic or foreign magazines ultimately rests with the Canadian consumer market. Restricting access to magazines or any other communication vehicle has an authoritative bias to block people's access to different ways of viewing the world. Also, the consumer market for Canadian magazines has been left out of the whole process of deciding on protectionist measures, so that only the Canadian magazine industry can exert influence on local

For example, an American desk can produce the content, a Japanese office does the layout and a Canadian company makes the final impression. In fact, it was not easy to establish criteria that would fairly distinguish the origin of publications. I believe it would be very difficult to establish infallible criteria to allow the establishment of protective measures as a differentiated taxation. If I were a Canadian politician and had to come up with some criterion that was as objective as possible to determine the choice, I would actually propose that foreign magazines that promote transgressions of local customs, or that they had frivolous content or had only the intention of Foreign products to the local consumer market, to be taxed more intensively.

In this way, the emphasis on the "cultural expropriation" aspect could take on a new dimension. Of course, there would always be the risk of arbitrary discretion of the bodies responsible for the selection of publications. I am concerned about the establishment of any mechanism for controlling media content beyond what is strictly necessary, such as restricting young people's access to violent or pornographic content, for