Canada’s approach to culture in all trade agreements is to maintain the ability to support Canadian cultural industries through policies and programs, while seizing opportunities in new export markets.
The CPTPP preserves Canada’s flexibility to adopt and maintain programs and policies that support the creation, distribution and development of Canadian artistic expression or content, including in the digital environment.
The CPTPP also recognizes the importance of cultural identity and diversity, and the fact that trade and investment can expand opportunities to enrich cultural expressions at home and abroad.
How the CPTPP benefits the Canadian cultural industry
Canada preserved and protected its cultural interests by taking exceptions under a targeted chapter-by-chapter approach in the CPTPP, including in specific chapters on trade in services, investment, e-commerce, national treatment and market access for goods, state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and government procurement.
The bilateral agreements Canada concluded with all other CPTPP members (side-letters) maintain Canada’s full policy flexibility to ensure the protection of its cultural sector, including with respect to online content.
These side letters ensure Canada’s ability to adopt programs and policies that support its cultural sector, including in the digital environment.
The Canadian annex to the chapter on government procurement stipulates that all procurements at the federal level pertaining to services related to culture and cultural industries are excluded from the obligations of the chapter. In addition, procurements related to works of art and cultural industries in Quebec and Nova Scotia are also excluded.
Canada maintained an exclusion for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Telefilm Canada, and future culture-related Crown corporations. This means that the activities of the CBC, Telefilm Canada and future culture-related Crown corporations are excluded from key obligations of the CPTPP’s SOEs chapter.
The CPTPP does not have an impact on domestic policies related to the determination of what is Canadian content.
