Remember this post when you can’t get the shows people are talking about around the rest of the world.

Source: The Liberal government wants streaming companies like Netflix, Disney Plus and Amazon Prime to have a more Canadian flavour to binge watching sessions, with a requirement for more Canadian content expected to be part of legislation introduced next year.

Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault has been directed to bring new rules to streaming companies that will force them to put Canadian content upfront.

Guilbeault has been tasked to “introduce legislation by the end of 2020 that will take appropriate measures to ensure that all content providers, including internet giants, offer meaningful levels of Canadian content in their catalogues.”

They should also be making Canadian content easily accessible on their platforms and contribute to funds for making more Canadian content.

In layman’s terms, Justin Trudeau wants to mandate ALL streaming services a percentage of content they stream are Canadian made shows.

In the industry, it’s called ‘Can-Con’ and it sucks ass.

Radio stations are mandated to play 33.3 percent Canadian content in all their music.  If they don’t, the station in question can lose their license to operate which makes THAT the ultimate sin in radio programming in Canada.   I’ve seen music directors chew their fingers off and have nervous breakdowns trying to reconcile logs to make sure they got enough shitty Candian music on the air.

And some of it was SHIIIITY.  I’ve always been of the opinion that art and entertainment should be survival of the fittest.  That’s how it is in the movie industry and generally speaking in life (save some shitty white male patriarchy) and I happen to STRONGLY agree with that sentiment when it comes to my entertainment.  Forcing people to choose from ‘Don’t Fuck With Cats’ (which is incredible, btw) or ‘Good Cop Bon Cop 4’ is mean and pointless.

Netflix isn’t going to bump Stranger Things for garbage no one is going to watch that’s only on the platform because it’s Canadian.  I’m not suggesting all Canadian content is shit. What I am saying is there is some shit that wouldn’t be made if Canada didn’t mandate these companies to stream a certain percentage of can-con and Netflix doesn’t want to have to put shit up that people won’t want to watch.

Can-con is the reason Limblifter was a band and Snow Job was a show.

I think people like good music, movies, and TV shows no matter what country they’re made in.  Entertainment is global and that’s never been truer for TV.

What the Gov’t doesn’t realize is Canadians are so fucking tired of not having a choice in what we watch, there’s no way we are giving up our entertainment bandwidth for a show that was made just to exist because the gov’t said so.  We’re tired of Canadian Tire ads during the Superbowl and Lenny Kravitz’s “American Woman” Radio remake can fuck right off too.

The problem with Candian content isn’t Candian content, it’s bad Canadian content funded with taxpayer dollars because no business person in their right mind would take it on.  That’s the problem.

Why?

Because it’s probably not very good.

The government’s involvement in your content should piss you off.  Trudeau just forked out half a billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies to Candian media companies to offset losses due to the unfettered instant-on demand access you get with a phone or tablet.

It’s one of the biggest reasons Radio and TV are dying.

If the CBSC would ease content and Cancon restrictions, Radio and TV would be able to offer the best genuine content consumers can only find online, driving people back to those platforms.  You match that content with a robust multi-channel digital-first strategy and WHAMMO!  The Gov’t can keep its subsidy then redistribute it and we get the content we all want.

And, isn’t that the point?