cultural environment analysis

Cultural Environment Analysis of Canada

Terms of History and Geography

Canada is the second largest country in the world by total area. It is also a rich and beautiful country in which Ottawa is the capital. It covers 9,984, 670 square kilometers of land and located in the Northern region of the United States of America. It has three ocean borders: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north. Canada has many different types of landscape, including high mountains, prairie grasslands, different types of forests, and arctic tundra where the ground is permanently frozen. The primary languages spoken by Canadian citizens throughout the country are English and French. One of the significant sectors in the Canadian economy is the manufacturing sector, that has a service-oriented economy and growth in manufacturing, it has become one of the top economies in the world. It maintains good relations with the most powerful country in the world, the USA. It also maintains good relations with the United Kingdom, France, and many other countries in the world. As an exporter, the statistics provides the willingness of a future excellent partnership with my country’s national manufacturing export sector. As a country we will continue to promote principles and objectives to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner with each country.

Terms of Opportunity and Threat

Canada has a long history of supporting cultural diversity.  Over several decades, Canada has equipped itself with a vast ecosystem of measures that contributes to the creation of an environment that actively promotes the expression of cultural diversity within its territory.  The ecosystem recognizes the social and economic value of cultural content and is constantly evolving to face new challenges, such as the transition to digital platforms. This ecosystem contains measures of all types of policies, laws, regulations, subsidy programs, and tax credits that complement one another and provide support at each stage of cultural expression; creation, production, distribution, dissemination, and participation.  By ensuring the continued existence of Canadian cultural products and making them accessible to the public, the system enriches the lives of its citizens while promoting mutually beneficial exchanges with the rest of the world. While we are seizing the opportunities of global and regional economic integration, preserving, and promoting domestic flexibility related to culture is a core objective for Canada in all international trade negotiations.

Environmental assessments (EA) of trade negotiations are an important decision-making tool for promoting sustainable development. Environmental assessments of trade negotiations contribute to more open decision-making within the federal government by engaging representatives from other levels of government, the public, the private sector, and non-governmental organizations in this process. Environmental assessments also improve overall policy coherence at the national level by assisting decision-makers to understand environmental implications of trade policy. Environmental Assessments of trade negotiations conducted to date can be found in the List of Environmental Assessments.

The preservation and promotion of cultural identity is of great importance to Canada, and, in all international trade agreements, our aim is to ensure that Canada maintains the maximum flexibility to pursue its domestic cultural policy objectives.  To that effect, Canada’s existing bilateral and regional trade negotiations all incorporate specific provisions with respect to cultural industries to allow us to adapt existing cultural policies and develop new policies in the future.

Services and Products

In fulfilling Canada's obligations under various trade agreements, Canada’s Notification Authority and Enquiry Point offers the following services and products to interested stakeholders: Supporting Canadian regulators in identifying issues for notifications and preparing relevant documentation; Providing notification and related documentation to Canada's WTO and other partners of proposed new or amended technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures, and SPS measures as required by Canadian trade agreements; Forwarding of comments received on domestic and foreign measures to the appropriate regulatory agency for consideration; Responding to technical enquiries on a variety of topics including: national, foreign and international standards; Canadian and foreign technical regulations; conformity assessment procedures; and SPS measures; Providing full texts of technical regulations, conformity assessment procedures, and SPS measures notified.

Exports

Nicknamed the Great White North, Canada exported a total US$390.8 billion worth of products around the globe in 2020. That dollar amount reflects a 0.1% increase since 2016 but a -12.5% dip from 2019 to 2020. Based on the average exchange rate for 2020, the Canadian dollar has depreciated by -1.2% against the US dollar since 2016 and retreated by -1.1% from 2019 to 2020. Canada’s weaker local currency made Canadian exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive for international buyers. Canada’s biggest export products by value in 2020 were crude oil, cars, gold, automotive parts or accessories and sawn wood. In aggregate, those major exports account for over one quarter of the Canada’s overall exports sales. The commodities themselves suggest a modestly diversified range of exported goods. Canada ranks among world-leading nations for exporting sawn wood, crude oil, cars and gold. The latest available country-specific data shows that 91.4% of products exported from Canada were bought by importers in: United States (73.5% of the global total), China (4.8%), United Kingdom (3.8%), Japan (2.4%), Germany (1.2%), Mexico (1.2%), Netherlands (1.0%), South Korea (0.9%), France (0.7%), Italy (0.7%), India (0.7%) and Norway (0.5%). From a continental perspective, 74.6% of Canada’s exports by value were delivered to fellow North American countries while 12.3% were sold to Asian importers. Canada shipped another 10.1% worth of goods to Europe. Smaller percentages went to Latin America excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean (1.4%), Africa (1%) then Oceania led by Australia and New Zealand (0.5%). Given Canada’s population of 38 million people, its total $390.8 billion in 2020 exports translates to roughly $10,300 for every resident.

The following export product groups categorize the highest dollar value in Canadian global shipments during 2020. Also shown is the percentage share each export category represents in terms of overall exports from Canada.

1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$69.1 billion (17.7% of total exports)

2. Vehicles: $46.5 billion (11.9%)

3. Machinery including computers: $28.9 billion (7.4%)

4. Gems, precious metals: $23 billion (5.9%)

5. Wood: $13.5 billion (3.4%)

6. Plastics, plastic articles: $12.4 billion (3.2%)

7. Electrical machinery, equipment: $11 billion (2.8%)

8. Ores, slag, ash: $9.9 billion (2.5%)

9. Aircraft, spacecraft: $9.7 billion (2.5%)

10. Pharmaceuticals: $8.5 billion (2.2%)

Canada’s top 10 exports are worth about three-fifths (59.5%) of the overall value of Canadian global shipments.

The Canadian government uses a combination of financial incentives, Canadian content requirements, tax measures, rules on foreign investments and intellectual property tools to promote Canadian culture. Working together, government and the cultural sector have been able to develop a policy and regulatory environment that ensures that Canadians have access to the best the world has to offer while preserving a space for Canadian culture.

Over time, Canada's cultural policies have evolved, constantly adapting to changes in both the domestic and the global markets. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century, massive changes - driven by technology and "freer" trade - are creating both opportunities and challenges for our cultural industries.

Digitization and the convergence of the broadcasting, cable, satellite, and telecommunications sector are creating new technologies, which will compete with existing distribution systems. At the same time, there will be even greater opportunity to distribute Canadian content both at home and abroad.

Emerging technologies are offering Canadians new communications tools but are also challenging the government's ability to enforce regulations designed to ensure that Canadians have access to Canadian cultural products. (Note: Here and throughout the paper cultural "products" refers to both goods and services.)

With the growth of multinational corporations and the vertical integration of entertainment, distribution and delivery systems and products, national policies are shifting and adapting to address these changes.

The trend to more open markets and a free trading world make it more challenging to negotiate trade agreements that recognize cultural diversity and the unique nature of cultural products.

These changes are already having an impact. Over the past few years, cultural policies designed for our own cultural industries have come under close international scrutiny. As a nation, we believe in the benefits of open markets, but we are concerned about the effect that global trade, combined with rapid technology change, may have on our ability to promote Canadian culture.

How should Canada respond to these pressures? What is the right balance between domestic policies that promote Canadian culture and trade policies that enable Canada to prosper in a free trading world?

Bribery and Corruption

On December 17, 1997, Canada signed the Convention on Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD Convention). In 1998 Parliament passed the Corruption of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) to implement Canada’s obligations under the OECD Convention into Canadian law.

The OECD Convention aims to stop the flow of bribes and to remove bribery as a non-tariff barrier to trade, producing a level playing field in international business.  The OECD Convention came into force on February 15, 1999, following Canada’s ratification. To date, 44 states have ratified the OECD Convention, including the 36 member states of the OECD and eight non-member states: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Russia, and South Africa.

In June 2013 Parliament amended the CFPOA to increase the maximum penalty for convicted individuals, to create a new books and records offence and to expand jurisdiction based on nationality.  In addition, the 2013 amendment stated that later the Government would eliminate the exception for facilitation payments. Facilitation payments are those made to foreign public officials to secure or expedite the performance of acts of a routine nature that are within the scope of the official's duties. The repeal came into force on October 31, 2017, and such payments are now included under the foreign bribery offences listed in the CFPOA.

In September 2018, a Remediation Agreement (RA) regime came into force through the creation of a new Part (Part XXII.1) of the Criminal Code. An RA is a new tool available for use by prosecutorial authorities – at their discretion, in the public interest and in appropriate circumstances – to address corporate criminal wrongdoing. It is an agreement, between an organization accused of committing a listed offence and a prosecutor, to stay any proceedings related to that offence, if the organization complies with the terms of the agreement.