I'll get my culture from a Starbucks yogurt thanks.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 11:24PM Would you tolerate your government dictating to you that you have to buy your socks from a Quebecer artisan knitter, or your toaster from subsidized Ontario manufacturers? Of course not, you will go to Walmart and buy the cheapest damn option presented to you, or go online and buy the coolest variant of the above based on your wants.
We don't allow these special interest groups to lobby our government for "Mandatory Canadian Content", yet we do for books, television, radio content and the like. It's ridiculous, especially when you consider that it's new technology which allows little heard of Canadian artists, products and content to spread easily around the World, and yet we allow our government to restrict our personal benefit for the same technology if the content is coming from across the "border". We have no reason to "protect" ourselves from outside world content, anymore than we should underestimate ourselves when it comes to using technology to spread OUR talent.
It's stories like this, where the Canadian Booksellers Association wants to restrict Amazon from opening a distribution centre in Canada, that make my blood boil.Here's an excerpt, which I actually can't even believe is in writing:
A Canadian Heritage spokesman said the government has ordered a review of Amazon's proposal to open a Canadian distribution centre to determine if the investment "will be of net benefit to Canada."
Spokesman Tim Warmington said the proposal is reviewable under the Investment Canada Act, "if it falls within a prescribed specific type of business activity that is related to Canada's cultural heritage or national identity, and if the governor-in-council considers it in the public interest."
What many people don't understand is that Amazon has probably done significantly more for Canadian companies than the Federal Government has ever done. Amazon owns the popular EC2 cloud computing infrastructure which probably allows thousands of Canadian small companies to host and grow their online business.
In media, print, audio, video, and internet, there are no more borders. By allowing fake markets to be sustained by archaic legislation, we will always end up paying more for something we rarely want, and yet still consuming that which we do want (for a needless premium).
Dear Government, protect our borders and our citizens who can't help themselves, and forget trying to protect "my culture".
