Foreign Investment Restriction in Canadian Television Broadcasting: A Call for Reform

JEFFREY KOWALL

ABSTRACT

This article reviews and analyzes foreign investment provisions governing Canadian television broadcasting. The historical development of the investment restrictions is traced from the early 1900s through their most recent incarnation under the 1991 Broadcasting Act. Throughout this period, the restrictions have been continually justified as necessary to the protection of Canadian cultural sovereignty and national unity. The author argues that the restrictions currently in effect represent an obsolete understanding of the nature of television broadcasting in Canada. Emerging political, technological and commercial trends, both within Canada and throughout the world, suggest that the Canadian broadcasting system will soon face profound challenges to its viability. A more flexible and responsive regime of foreign investment restrictions should be designed to assist Canadian broadcasters as they adjust to the realities of the new broadcasting environment. This liberalized foreign investment scheme would foster new sources of investment capital and would expand the market for Canadian programming without jeopardizing Canadian cultural sovereignty or threatening national unity.

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Citation: (1992) 50(1) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 61.
Copyright © 1992. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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