We understand where the concern about Canada's cultural sovereignty is coming from, our bigger concern though is that none of the establishment parties are approaching it right.
The Liberal Party's laws/proposals do more harm than good, the Conservative Party wants to sell out for a quick buck and celebrate the past instead
The way we see it at the Future Party, Canada's culture is vibrant and its potential is yet to be unleashed.
The Future Party will end the regulations on 'Canadianness' and focus on promoting Canadians' creativity
To do that we have a comprehensive plan.
Bills C-11 (Social media) & C-18 (News)
Repeal them. They do more harm than good.
Restricting the free flow of information and news in such a heavy handed way is a horrible precedent that is almost guaranteed to backfire. Freedom to choose who to listen to (and how) is necessary for a functioning democracy.
Media regulation should be explicitly limited to banning speech that actively promotes violence or descrimination against other groups. Leaving the regulation open ended is a crisis waiting to happen. We can't stress this risk enough.
The claim that bill C-11 is simply an internet update to the existing regulations for TV and Radio shows the weakness of those older regulations and the need to reform the whole function of the CRTC. The CRTC should focus on promotion instead of regulations.
Promotion Beats Regulations
The CRTC has been wasting too much of its efforts and resources into deciding what makes a Canadian production Canadian before providing support. The issue is that Canadian-Content (Can-con) adds layers of hurdles that get in the way of smaller creators. Many have already pointed out the problems with Can-con and how bill C-11 risks damaging creators' livelihoods. An example is Linus Sebastien from LMG, one of the biggest tech youtubers and is based in Vancouver. Here's a clip where he complaints about the process for a couple minutes:
We are proposing to fundamentally alter how the CRTC functions. Instead of developing and enforcing regulations that decide what gets their "Canadian stamp of approval", the CRTC will focus its resources into funding promising Canadian proposals and promoting their products. The internet has proven that Canadian creativity was able to gain wide global appeal without the help of the CRTC. Not to mention recommendation algorithms already tend to favour content that is geographically close to the audience. Government should listen to these creators, learn from their successes, and work to support aspiring creators.
The details of how such a system would work are under research. Broadly speaking though, the focus would be on:
Fostering non-political productions that provide constructive content across a variety of topics.
Streamlining and speeding up funding decisions. To keep up with the speed of internet culture.
Dedicating a significant portion of available funding to small and medium independent producers.
The CBC
We believe that a publicly funded news & media organization not beholden to profit motives can provide Canadians with a valuable perspective on Canadian and world events. However this only works if there are strict neutrality guardrails in place to ensure it does not turn into a political tool. The Future Party will maintain the CBC's funding and strengthen its neutrality mandate.
Local News
Our local news have been dieing a slow painful death, this fact has been documented endlessly. Unless you live in a major city, you likely know more about provincial and federal news than your municipality. This is quite common, unless a person goes out of their way to follow local news they are easy to miss.
We see it as a side effect of a the spread of the internet. Higher level news are more likely to get shared (and therefore seen) than local level news, and so they slowly lose readership and revenue. Local news are the foundation that higher level news often build on, and provide valuable information to the communities they are based in.
Bill C-18 claims to fix that. Bill C-18 over-reaches and in the process defeats its stated purpose. As it stands the CRTC is building a system that risks consolidating the news industry in Canada even further. This needs to stop.
We are currently learning more about the topic, so we don't have a plan or an outline yet but felt it necessary to bring it up. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, please share them with us!
Canada's Perceived Culture Problem
We share a lot of our culture with the US. That is all it boils down to.
There are differences between Canada and the US of course, but from outside the continent looking in, we look more like variations on the same identity than distinct identities.
Many in the political class view this as a problem, then blow it out of proportion. Liberal politicians are trying to build a distinct identity around a 'Canadian' brand of progressivism out of fear. We see bills C-11 and C-18 as a result of that fear. The problem with cultural policies based on fear however is that they tend to over-compensate and in the process suffocate the living culture into being artificially stagnant and weak.
We don't see it that way. We see Canada as an integral part of a broad, vibrant North American culture. A culture that Canadians contribute plenty to:
Singers: Celine Dione, The Weeknd, Drake, & more
Actors: Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, The Ryans, & more
Movies: Vancouver and Quebec contribute a lot
VIdeo games: Montreal contributes a lot
Internet: In every subculture Canadians have a visible presence
Politics: Movements that start in Canada often spread to the US too (for better or for worse)
We want to boost Canadians' ability to express their creativity in all fields of media, art, and thought.
We have a lot to say about why embracing our close relationship with the US does not compromise Canada's uniqueness, so we will dedicate a blog post to the topic in the near future. Look forward to it.
Meanwhile, the Conservative politicians view on the Canadian identity is bland. It appears they would rather put up Canada for sale and call it freedom than promote Canadian's creativity. The only times they celebrate Canadian culture is at public holidays where they stop at remembering and glorifying the past.
Canada's past has a lot to celebrate and a lot to remember and reflect on.
It is crucial to celebrate our past accomplishments because they are part of who we are.
It is just as crucial to strive towards accomplishments that our grandkids will look back at with pride.
Society flourishes when the government and the people work towards a common goal.