Canadian Media and Entertainment

They say one of the easiest ways to learn about a country is to take a look at what they watch and read. Canada is no different. Overall, Canadian media tends to be very heavily regulated by the government in order to combat "excessive" American content, which already composes over 90% of all entertainment and news media in Canada.

Television

In the late 80's the Canadian government passed laws to limit the amount of American content that would be permitted to be shown on Canadian TV. Such measures were designed to allow Canadian TV shows, advertisers, and networks to compete in what would otherwise be an entirely American-controlled market. As a result of these reforms, Canada now has many new TV stations that show Canadian-made programs and rebroadcast American ones.

Rebroadcasing is an odd process in which a Canadian station sort of legally "hijacks" an American feed, and broadcasts it to a Canadian audience via the Canadian station. For example, when I watch the Simpsons on Sunday night I do not watch it on FOX. I watch it on Global, which is a Canadian station that rebroadcasts the FOX feed. I thus get to watch the Simpsons at the same time as everyone else, only my Simpsons will have Canadian commercials.

This process can sometimes be a bit controversial, especially if you like commercials. My father, for example, always complains that he doesn't get to see the special Super Bowl commercials, since he doesn't get to watch the Super Bowl on an American station.

It is possible to watch certain American stations if you have a satellite dish however. Of course, satellite dishes are very tightly regulated in Canada- and many are illegal. Any American station that wants to be seen in Canada must first be approved by an elite body known as the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission or CRTC. The CRTC in turn does not generally approve US stations which it deems "threatening" to Canadian ones. For example, we don't have MTV or Comedy Central in Canada because the CRTC deemed them to be to threatening to the local Canadian comedy and music video station.

Today, all Canadian TV networks must air at least 60% Canadian-made content. In order to prevent Canadian shows from being shoved into the unpopular timeslots (as most of the networks used to do) the government recently passed legislation demanding that 50% of this Canadian content be aired from 7-11 PM, aka "prime time." So, assuming about eight shows are shown during that period, four of them will have to be Canadian.

What qualifies as "Canadian content"? Well I notice a lot of networks just use news, or other nonfiction type stuff to fill up their requirements. When it comes to actual entertainment, most "Canadian-made" shows are dramas. I can't think of any Canadian sitcoms off hand. But then again I usually just change the channel when some lame Canadian show comes on. That's kind of the ironic thing about Canadian TV regulations. Polls show the Canadian public doesn't want more "Canadian content" and the advertisers sure don't. The government on the other hand continues to believe subsidizing and regulating Canadian TV is a vital necessity in order to preserve our "nationalism."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is a news and entertainment channel that is owned by the Canadian Government. The Prime Minister gets to appoint the President and all the board members of the CBC, and thus has a fair bit of influence in how the network is run. Every TV in Canada gets the CBC, even if you don't have cable. It's channel 3 where I live, but it might be different elsewhere.

The CBC is best known for their news reports, which despite being paid for with government money, are supposedly very fair and unbiased. Peter Mansbridge is the chief anchorman of CBC, a position he has held for over 20 years. The CBC also broadcasts Canadian dramas, comedy shows, documentaries, cartoons, and sports coverage. Their range of material is quite diverse, and the CBC goes out of their way to appeal to as many people as possible. Unlike Canadian-made shows shown on other networks, CBC shows are CBC exclusive, and generally remain far more popular than the Canadian content on other networks.

"HOLLYWOOD NORTH"

Even shows that are produced in America often have ties to Canada. Because of the weak value of the Canadian dollar, it is very cheap for Hollywood producers to shoot American movies and television shows in Canada. Large film crews, complete with cameras, trailers, and celebrities are a common sight in big Canadian cities such as Vancouver and Toronto. TV shows such as the X-Files and Smallville, as well as dozens of popular movies were all at least partially filmed in Canada.

Other than controlling filming rights, the Canadian motion picture industry is not very large. Most Canadian produced films are government funded, and thus have a reputation for being too "artsy" or "abstract" for the general public. They usually go directly to the CBC, or are only shown at special theaters. Canadians pretty much watch all the same movies as Americans.

Canadian music is another popular enterprise. Over the years, many prominent bands and musicians have emerged from Canada, including the Guess Who, Shania Twain, Leonard Cohen, Bryan Adams, and of course, the omnipresent Celine Dion. Like television networks, Canadian radio stations operate under tight government regulations with special "Canadian Content Quotas" that must be met. This leads to the prominence of Canadian bands on most radio stations, and often will create the impression that Canadian music is more popular than it really is. It can also get really annoying especially when you have to hear the same Matthew Good Band song played like 20 times a day.

Canadian artists are recognized every year by the Juno Awards, which have been dubbed "The Canadian Grammies." Unlike most other Canadian entertainment award ceremonies, the Juno Awards are actually quite exciting and entertaining to watch, because all the big Canadian musicians attend and perform.

Canadian Entertainers

Canada's biggest claim to fame in the entertainment world is the large number of high-profile actors and musicians that were originally born in Canada. Thus, no Canadian site would be complete without the obligatory list of famous Canadian celebrities.

Though not exhaustive, here's 20 of the most famous:

...granted, they've almost all moved to the United States and become US citizens. But Canada is much like the Hotel California. You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.

Like all democratic countries Canada has a huge array of daily newspapers. Every major city has several. Some of the best-known provincial papers include the Toronto Star, The Ottawa Sun, The Montreal Gazette, The Edmonton Journal, and the Vancouver Sun.

When it comes to national, Canada-wide newspapers there are only really two to speak of. The first is the Globe and Mail which has been around for generations, and for a long time was pretty much the only national newspaper of note. As the years went on the Globe was increasingly criticized for it's alleged left-wing bias and strongly pro-Liberal editorial page. In 1999 the conservative National Post was thus created, in order to offer "balance." Today the Post has risen in popularity to become the second most popular national daily in Canada. Both papers are made in Ontario.

There is only really one Canadian magazine of note, MacLean's. It's a news and culture magazine, like TIME Magazine in the US.

CBC has a radio station that airs news, classical music, and various other forms of snobbish programming across the country. Other than that, radio in Canada tends to be very local in scope and focus. I can't think of any nationally famous radio shows or personalities.