Historical context

The nationalist and cultural goals for broadcasting regulation are established in the Broadcasting Act. They provide the legal justification for Canadian content regulations. The policy objectives in the Act are many and broadly drawn and so great discretion is conferred on the CRTC to interpret them in the scores of specific cases with which it deals every year.

Broadcasting policy has long been seen as an important tool for protecting and promoting Canadian culture and national identity, and it has been aimed at promoting various social policy objectives. For example, in 1929 the Aird Commission argued that foreign programs have a tendency to mould the minds of Canadians (particularly youth) "to ideals and opinions that are not Canadian." It suggested that broadcasting should "foster a national spirit and interpret national citizenship" and "promote the unity of the nation" (Aird, 1929). Further, broadcasting should be seen as an instrument of public education.

In 1932, Prime Minister R.B. Bennett, in establishing the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (predecessor of the CBC-see appendix A), said that its role was "complete control of broadcasting from Canadian sources ... communications of matters of national concern ... diffusion of national thought and ideals ... [to foster] national consciousness ... [and to strengthen] national unity" (House of Commons Debates, May 18, 1932). Bennett also said that "the use of the air that lies over the soil or land of Canada ... is a natural resource ... for the use of the people."

In 1957, another Royal Commission on Broadcasting said that broadcasting policy is to be used to develop a "Canadian sense of identity" in light of the predominantly American programs on private stations (Fowler, 1957, p. 9). "In broadcasting, dealing as it does with media of public information and wielding so great an influence on opinion, we feel that facilities should be kept substantially in Canadian hands" (Fowler, 1957, p. 107). Following the Commission's report, the Broadcasting Act of 1958 specified that Canada was to have a national broadcasting system ... that is basically Canadian in content and character."

In the 1966 White Paper on Broadcasting, the federal government reiterated that "a national system of radio and television broadcasting in Canada is an essential part of the continuing resolve for Canadian identity and Canadian unity" (Government of Canada, 1966, p. 5). The most important objec<%-2>tive of the policy is "to preserve and strengthen the political, social, and economic fabric of Canada."

Two decades later, another task force on broadcasting stated that government policy should "Make the broadcasting system serve Canadian culture, broadly defined." (Caplan-Sauvageau, 1986, p. 41). The development of private broadcasting was seen "as a means to a cultural end, not an end in itself." The general approach is one of "protective intervention by the state" of industries that happen to be in the "culture business."

A detailed review of scores of policy documents from 1929 to the present day reveals a remarkable similarity in the explanations given in support of the extensive regulation of broadcasting. See, for example, Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee (1982), Caplan & Sauvageau (1996), and the Mandate Review Committee (1996).

Broadcasting Act, 1991

While several statutes and hundreds of pages of regulations govern broadcasting in Canada (see Grant, 1994), it is section 3 of the federal Broadcasting Act of 1991 that provides a "declaration" of a "broadcasting policy for Canada." The range and ambition of the policy objectives for the broadcasting system are extraordinary. (The system is declared to be a single system despite its obvious cleavages in terms of language and ownership.) The system is to be "effectively owned and controlled by Canadians." Section 3(b) states that a broadcaster's programming is "a public service essential to the maintenance and enhancement of national identity and cultural sovereignty." Collins (1990, p. 3) argues that the central objective of broadcasting policy is "strengthening national identity." The Act states that the system should "serve to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social, and economic fabric of Canada." It should provide "a wide range of programming that reflects Canadian attitudes, opinions, ideas, values, and artistic creativity, by displaying Canadian talent in entertainment programming and by offering information and analysis concerning Canada and other countries from a Canadian point of view." The broadcasting system in Canada is to "serve the needs and interests, and reflect the circumstances and aspirations, of Canadian men, women, and children, including equal rights, the linguistic duality and multicultural and multiracial nature of Canadian society and the special place of aboriginal peoples within that society." Also, it is to be "readily adaptable to scientific and technological change."

Each element of the system "shall contribute in an appropriate manner to the creation and presentation of Canadian programming." This provision has been used by the CRTC to extend various Canadian content requirements from over-the-air-broadcasters, to cable TV operators, to pay and specialty channels, to DTH satellite distribution undertakings, and even to video-on-demand.

Section 3 also contains detailed objectives specifically relating to the CBC, alternative television programming services, and distribution undertakings. For example, the CBC, as the national public broadcaster, should provide radio and television services incorporating "a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens, and entertains." Further, the programming provided by the Corporation should

i) be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,

ii) reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,

iii) actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,

iv) be in English and in French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities,

v) strive to be of equivalent quality in English and in French,

vi)contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,

vii)be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose, and

viii)reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada.

Many of the policy objectives in all parts of section 3 relate to programming. It should be "varied and comprehensive, providing a balance of information, enlightenment, and entertainment for men, women, and children of all ages, interests, and tastes." It is to be "drawn from local, regional, national, and international sources" and "include educational and community programs." There should be "a reasonable opportunity for the public to be exposed to the expression of differing points of view on matters of public concern." It should include a "significant contribution from the Canadian independent sector."

It is evident that the stated policy objectives in the Broadcasting Act are numerous, vague, and potentially conflicting in certain cases.²⁸ Even the most important terms, such as "national identity," and "cultural sovereignty" are not defined. How then can anyone know if the CRTC's Canadian content regulations are achieving these policy goals? Nor did Parliament give the CRTC any indication of the weights to be applied to any of the long list of goals.

Rationale by the CRTC

Canadian content requirements have become so deeply embedded in federal broadcasting policy that it is difficult to find any official explanations of the rationale for them. It appears that their justification is assumed to be obvious. One of the few statements greater than a line or two on the link between Canadian program quotas and national identity was provided by the CRTC to a House of Commons committee in 1991:

The relationship between broadcasting and the development of a shared or common Canadian identity lies essentially in the quantity, quality, and diversity of the programming that the broadcasting system provides through each of its individual undertakings and, more particularly, in programming that is made in Canada by Canadians about Canadians. It is this programming, the Canadian content transmitted and distributed by radio, television, and satellite broadcasters and by cable systems, that can directly influence and shape the listening and viewing public's collective sense as a distinctive Canadian society. Canadian programming can inform Canadians about themselves, about the communities in which they work and live, and about the rest of the world. It can enlighten Canadians about our history, our shared attitudes and values as a society and, in doing so, give us both individual and collective pride and a stronger national consciousness. That content can also entertain us by providing an avenue for the expression of our own popular culture. (CRTC, 1991b, p. 6)