Let's not fool ourselves; intellectual property rules are established by the strongest industrialized countries.
Copyright was not addressed in our agreement with Europe. I believe that Europe and the United States have an agreement. Europe told the U.S. to deal with the issue of copyright expiring 70 years after someone's death in the TPP, and Europe would in turn deal with appellations of origin. That is how the appellations of origin were obtained in the European agreement. I think this is a very interesting system.
However, it is clear that this is how the rules are applied. Do we lose in this system? I will tell you a little story.
We always say that Canada is an importing country, so that it exports royalties. Which countries are truly importers/exporters? Three countries are net exporters in terms of copyright: the United States, with its music, films and software; England, with its music and films; and Japan, with its computer programs and video games.
Three other countries are breaking even: France, Germany and, unfortunately, I can't recall the third one. All other countries are “losers”. That means we are not alone. If we manage to have a good industry, it's not our fault we don't have any Beyoncés or Michael Jacksons.
However, we do have other artists, such as Céline Dion, Cirque du Soleil and Arcade Fire. A number of our films are doing very well. Many of our activities are worthy of merit and successful.