Friday, February 12, 2010

Rethinking the whole Canadian content theory

For the longest time, I wouldn't say I quite sided with the CRTC, but I tolerated their role of protecting Canadian content via the content regulations that were put in place to ensure Canadian art gets its fair share of exposure via radio and television. The government must have our best interests at heart, right? Yeah, I know - laugh it up.

I assumed that the openness of the internet would also make it possible to access previously unobtainable (and even already obtainable) non-Canadian content only to discover that many American and UK TV web sites are purposely geo-blocked, and only to discover that this blocking is actually condoned by the CRTC.

Now I have to step back and ask myself, "Why exactly do we need to protect our culture from other cultures?"

I am having a hard time believing that the Canadian artists and programming that have succeeded to date have done so as a result of the CRTC's protectionist measures. Forced Canadian content doesn't make me watch or listen to any more Canadian material than I would have otherwise. In fact, I believe that I can usually tell when a song is playing on the radio or a program exists on TV, not because it merits exposure, but because its airing satisfies Canadian content regulations imposed on broadcasters. I have an appetite for quality content made anywhere and I go out of my way to obtain it. Why? Because I know what I like and I have the right to consume it, whether it’s Canadian or not. My government has no business telling me what I should consume (unless it is a safety issue).

I've come to the conclusion that the best thing our government could do to promote Canadian content is to stop protecting it. Because all that does is allow marginal content that would otherwise falter, to survive, as if on a giant cultural iron lung. Content should be allowed, hell it should be forced to survive on its own. If it cannot, than that's only because it did not meet the standards of quality needed to make it in today's small world. Artists like Barenaked Ladies, Sarah McLachlan and The Kids in the Hall did not break into world markets because of the CRTC. They broke out because they're that good.

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