Why Do Magazines Preserve Canadian Culture
Canada is concerned about preserving their culture. Even though 89 percent of the magazines produced in Canada are foreign magazines the government believes that magazines produced domestically help preserve the Canadian culture. It is believed that the magazines produced domestically is the corner stone of Canadian identity. It was concluded by the Canadian governmental committee on Mass Media that the only national press Canada has comes from magazines. This government takes its magazines seriously. The domestic magazines are supposed to help Canadians establish more patriotism and identity I believe the Canadian government was pressured a lot by the Canadian magazine industry. Both the Canadian government and Canadian magazine benefited from protective tariffs and taxes on foreign magazines.
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This brought more money into the country. I am not one for conspiracy theories or jumping to conclusions, so it is difficult for me to figure what the real motives of the Canadian government was. Canadian magazine industry would benefit from competing with less foreign competition. Globalization enables other cultures to reach all parts of the world. It will be hard to try and preserve certain cultures in the future. Change is not always a bad thing and globalization will make that change inevitably. Since there is only 11 percent of domestic magazines produced in Canada and the fact that national press uses the magazines, it is without a doubt that this matter is important for Canadian culture.
There have been attempts to preserve the Canadian culture in history by the government. Tariffs were imposed on foreign magazines back in the 1920’s then in 1965 split-run editions were banned from being imported. This method by the government was an effective one because it is said to have helped protect the magazines producers in Canada. Any magazines that are produced outside of Canada and imported are considered a foreign magazine. This would make it easy to apply tariffs and prohibition. Because of globalization however technology has made it difficult to determine what is domestic and what is foreign. The determining factor went from classifying a magazine domestic or foreign based on where the magazine was printed to being able to make a magazine in another country and making and twisting it to have Canadian content. Technology is changing the way people get their information. It is hard to avoid the impact of online
media. I believe the government should give the people what they want. If Canadians enjoy American magazines then they should be able to use them. The Canadian people should be able to vote to determine whether or not foreign magazines should be regulated and to the extent of how regulated they become. Citizens should have the freedom to decide how they want to get their information. Not much can be done once the government makes up their mind about making it difficult to import certain products. In the name of culture the Canadian government in 1994 added a lot of tax to all split run publications. In order to avoid this publisher’s magazines had to have 80 percent of Canadian content. The government and domestic producers had a good partnership. This as viewed has a discriminatory practice by American magazine producers. This tax would put foreign magazines at a huge disadvantage and violate the principles of the World Trade Organization. The WTO eventually ruled that this tax was in fact discriminatory. Because of this drama, a trade conflict with other products almost occurred. This tax went from trying to promote Canadian culture to almost causing a trading war between the United States and Canada. It is not fair to levy extra taxes against foreign magazines because that seems too controlling. The government is basically trying to control what the public is exposed to. Currently with rapid growth of globalization and technology the Canadian government should come to acknowledge the change in their culture and embrace it. The world is becoming a global village. The preservation of Canadian culture can be done in more productive and positive ways. If the government is so concerned about preserving culture they should start funding programs and town events that promote the Canadian culture. By avoiding what they did with the tax on foreign magazines they will avoid conflicts with other countries. The last thing the global economy needs is too countries having a trade war.
This brought more money into the country. I am not one for conspiracy theories or jumping to conclusions, so it is difficult for me to figure what the real motives of the Canadian government was. Canadian magazine industry would benefit from competing with less foreign competition. Globalization enables other cultures to reach all parts of the world. It will be hard to try and preserve certain cultures in the future. Change is not always a bad thing and globalization will make that change inevitably. Since there is only 11 percent of domestic magazines produced in Canada and the fact that national press uses the magazines, it is without a doubt that this matter is important for Canadian culture.
There have been attempts to preserve the Canadian culture in history by the government. Tariffs were imposed on foreign magazines back in the 1920’s then in 1965 split-run editions were banned from being imported. This method by the government was an effective one because it is said to have helped protect the magazines producers in Canada. Any magazines that are produced outside of Canada and imported are considered a foreign magazine. This would make it easy to apply tariffs and prohibition. Because of globalization however technology has made it difficult to determine what is domestic and what is foreign. The determining factor went from classifying a magazine domestic or foreign based on where the magazine was printed to being able to make a magazine in another country and making and twisting it to have Canadian content. Technology is changing the way people get their information. It is hard to avoid the impact of online
media. I believe the government should give the people what they want. If Canadians enjoy American magazines then they should be able to use them. The Canadian people should be able to vote to determine whether or not foreign magazines should be regulated and to the extent of how regulated they become. Citizens should have the freedom to decide how they want to get their information. Not much can be done once the government makes up their mind about making it difficult to import certain products. In the name of culture the Canadian government in 1994 added a lot of tax to all split run publications. In order to avoid this publisher’s magazines had to have 80 percent of Canadian content. The government and domestic producers had a good partnership. This as viewed has a discriminatory practice by American magazine producers. This tax would put foreign magazines at a huge disadvantage and violate the principles of the World Trade Organization. The WTO eventually ruled that this tax was in fact discriminatory. Because of this drama, a trade conflict with other products almost occurred. This tax went from trying to promote Canadian culture to almost causing a trading war between the United States and Canada. It is not fair to levy extra taxes against foreign magazines because that seems too controlling. The government is basically trying to control what the public is exposed to. Currently with rapid growth of globalization and technology the Canadian government should come to acknowledge the change in their culture and embrace it. The world is becoming a global village. The preservation of Canadian culture can be done in more productive and positive ways. If the government is so concerned about preserving culture they should start funding programs and town events that promote the Canadian culture. By avoiding what they did with the tax on foreign magazines they will avoid conflicts with other countries. The last thing the global economy needs is too countries having a trade war.