Canadian Heritage committee  How much time would you allow us each, or how do we split that?

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm going to try to race through. Do you have a copy of my text already? That has been circulated. Okay. I can answer questions at the end in both languages, but I'll do my introduction in French mostly. My name is Charles Vallerand and I am Executive Director of the Coalition

Canadian Heritage committee  I believe that as has already been mentioned here, the Europeans have a slightly narrower view of the concept as regards to audiovisual. Their take is not as broad or as generous as ours. The committee heard last week that the Europeans have specific positions in the area of book

Canadian Heritage committee  We are moving towards a change in the position of the European Union and its member states. They are not here to confirm this but I feel that it all boils down to an issue of jurisdiction. Who has jurisdiction over what? Do the European Union and its negotiators have the authorit

Canadian Heritage committee  Based on the information I have, this is something they are still discussing within the European Union.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, not to establish jurisdiction but rather to clarify the mandate or relationship between the European Union and its member states.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is significant. However, once again, this is secondhand information. I am not European and I am not privy to their discussions.

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you think that this issue is more important for the Europeans than for us? It will ultimately come down to who is able to convince the other party to… As far as I am concerned, Canada has always had a clear, coherent and consistent position. Personally speaking, the European

Canadian Heritage committee  The negotiators are being pretty transparent when they tell you that they have not made much headway. This is because they have made a lot of progress in many other areas. They have focused on specific issues that were not particular showstoppers. You can look at the situation li

Canadian Heritage committee  There is nothing to indicate that the negotiations will result in anything but a complete exemption. However, we are not there yet... We do not have the wording in front of us today. Consequently, no one can assume the outcome of the negotiation process.

Canadian Heritage committee  Merely adopting an international convention does not immediately give it its full weight. The signatories to the Convention are required to implement it and to undertake concrete action. What do I mean by concrete action? Countries with no or very few cultural policies run the

Canadian Heritage committee  Indeed, that would be one way of looking at it. In actual fact, it states that cultural goods and services are also economic commodities, and as such, embody culture, identity, meaning and values. They occupy an entirely different space from commodities such as carpets, trains

Canadian Heritage committee  You have it. That could be included in the preamble for example.

Canadian Heritage committee  That is right. It could even be more detailed than that. Past treaties, for example, have included definitions, lists and inventories as well as an explanation of exempt culture.

Canadian Heritage committee  Publishing is a clear-cut case. However, I do not see what you are referring to when you mention audiovisual since the Europeans have made no representations in this area. At least, I am not aware of any. It was really Quebec that floated the idea of the protocol, not the Europ