Mr. Chair, it is a pleasure to be a member of the Standing Committee on International Trade. I am pleased to have the opportunity this evening to speak to culture related issues within the context of the Canada-EU comprehensive economic trade agreement negotiations.
Several members of our committee, who are in the House this evening, had an opportunity to travel to the EU just recently to discuss with our colleagues in the European parliament some of the opportunities and challenges from both perspectives. It was a fruitful discussion and I look forward to the discussions moving forward into 2011 and to coming to an agreement, hopefully, by the latter part of 2011 as we move forward with this economic and trade agreement.
The Government of Canada is committed to supporting the vital diversity of Canadian creation. Arts and culture improve our quality of life, strengthen our connections to one another and provide us with valuable and often unique insights into who we are as a nation.
Let us look at Canada's cultural sector and the economy. Arts and culture not only enrich us as people but also contribute directly to our collective prosperity. Each one of us has a special spot for arts and culture. We support the arts and culture in various ways. Canada's economic action plan, which was announced in 2009, is a testament to the important role arts and culture play in our country's economy.
As a trade and economic sector, it also makes important and significant contributions to Canada's gross domestic product. The arts and culture sector had an estimated direct economic impact of $46 billion on Canada's gross domestic product in 2007, or 3.8% of Canada's GDP.
Additionally, its various industries employ more than 630,000 people, with the equivalent of 46,000 full-time jobs accounted for through volunteer labour. Many fledgling part-time musicians and artisans are not included in that but they also help contribute in a variety of ways to the quality of life within a community.
The cultural sector is one of the few industries that is found in all regions of Canada in both cities and rural communities. Talent and investment are drawn to the areas where culture flourishes.
The cultural landscape, however, is changing. With anything in the world now just a mouse click away, competition for audience attention increases exponentially. In Canada, competitive pressures are intensified by the relatively small size of our domestic market, which can make cultural production costly and complex.
Canadians value access to cultural products that reflect their own voices but we are also extremely open to what the world has to offer. For instance, in 2009, foreign productions accounted for 97% of box office revenues, 74% of music albums sold in Canada and 59% of conventional private television programming. Those examples are demonstrative of the sector as a whole and represent an unparalleled openness to foreign content.
We are proud that as a government we can help ensure that Canadians can continue to enjoy these benefits by fostering strong, vibrant and economically sustainable arts and cultural industries throughout this country.
What this means. however. is that we need to work hard to ensure Canadians have access to Canadian culture. Our government has committed more than a billion dollars over five years in new and renewed investments for arts, culture, heritage and tourism.
Culture has been strongly supported under Canada's economic action plan with investments of approximately $335 million in support of arts and culture.
I have the honour of representing the beautiful riding of Kelowna--Lake Country. Our economic action plan invested significantly in the Laurel Packinghouse, which is B.C.s oldest packing house and located in the heart of our cultural district. I know the citizens of Kelowna are very appreciative of the economic action plan and our investment in retaining and enhancing the cultural district of our community.
I would now like to look at Canada's international cultural priorities. Canada is also active internationally in the field of culture through its bilateral and multilateral cultural agreements. A clear indication of this dynamism is reflected in the fact that Canada is signatory to audiovisual co-production treaties with 53 countries and has signed memoranda of understanding that foster cultural exchanges with key trading partners, such as China, India and Colombia.
Canada has been a leader in the development and implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions. My hon. Bloc colleague mentioned earlier that Canada became the first country to formally accept the UNESCO convention, which now acts as a benchmark in cultural affairs at the international level.
The preservation of policy flexibility to fulfill cultural policy objectives in the context of progressive liberalization through bilateral, regional and multilateral trade negotiations is an ongoing international challenge.
The UNESCO convention that the EU has also championed calls for countries to respect the need for policy flexibility to promote the cultural objectives. A key goal for Canada in all trade negotiations is to maintain flexibility to pursue our cultural policy objectives. This has been a long-standing and established element of Canada's trade policy.
Canada has traditionally managed requests for freer trade in the cultural sector by not listing any World Trade Organization services commitments under the General Agreement on Trade and Services with respect to Canadian cultural policies or measures. In the case of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, the North American Free Trade Agreement, or any other bilateral free trade agreements, Canada has negotiated proper cultural exemptions.
I would now like to talk specifically about culture, Canada and the European Union.
The European Union, itself a single market with half a billion citizens across 27 countries, speaking 23 languages officially, has been a long-standing partner in recognizing culture's space and special place in the economy and society. A big part of the union is the fact of the dynamic and diverse culture.
We have worked hard together, as early as the Uruguay round of negotiations on the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, which concluded in 1989, to ensure that countries could maintain the policy space required to address their domestic cultural priorities.
As I have just mentioned, Canada and the European Union have also been leaders and worked closely together in the development and promotion of the UNESCO convention. Canada and the EU both share an ongoing commitment to the principles of the UNESCO convention, such as the need to maintain the policy space necessary to pursue cultural priorities and to foster cultural exchanges that promote the diversity of cultural expressions.
With respect to culture in the free trade negotiations with the European Union, the government remains committed to defending Canada's cultural interest and will exempt these areas from trade obligations. We believe that the EU will understand our need to take this approach as it has demonstrated a long-standing respect for the needs of countries to have the capacity to develop and implement cultural policy policies.
A number of European Union countries themselves have developed their own array of cultural support mechanisms which they value as well. The great part of visiting Europe is the history, the culture and the way of life. Although our respective approaches to culture and trade might differ somewhat, Canada and the EU share their commitment to cultural diversity. Our government remains strongly committed to protecting Canada's cultural policies during our negotiations with the European Union.
A closer economic partnership agreement, such as the prospective free trade agreement with the European Union, would complement the objectives of the UNESCO convention. Canada believes that support for culture is consistent with its ongoing commitment to freer trade. Any trade agreement we conclude with the EU will therefore preserve our respective abilities to pursue domestic cultural policy objectives.
This has not deterred the usual critics of free trade from wrongly suggesting that any agreement would lead to irreparable harm to Canadian culture. That is not true. This never happened under our free trade agreements with the United States, our closest neighbour and trading partner, and it would not happen with the cultural diversity represented by the European Union.
During the course of the negotiations with the European Union, the Government of Canada will continue to work with the provincial and territorial governments toward an outcome that would ensure that Canada's and the European Union's ability to pursue domestic cultural policy objectives related to cultural industries would remain unimpaired.
I urge all members of the House to ignore the false and silly claims about the effect free trade has on Canadian culture. I encourage all members to get behind our Conservative government's ambitious free trade negotiations with the European Union and the jobs and economic benefits which will result for all Canadians.