Mr. Speaker, the minister told me in the House that culture would be carved out for the MAI. Then he said if we do not get a full exemption we will settle for country specific reservation, like we did in NAFTA.
Everyone knows that NAFTA does not protect us since it allows retaliatory measures by the U.S. The former trade minister said on January 30, 1997: “We do not have any cultural protections under NAFTA. That is a myth, we never did”.
If the government insists on continuing with this negotiation will the government commit to protecting culture with a full exception to the text like that enjoyed by financial services such as banks and national securities?