Consulting with Canadian Stakeholders on Copyright and Other Cultural Elements of NAFTA

Minister Joly holds stakeholder consultations to ensure that Canada's cultural industries continue to flourish under a modernized NAFTA

TORONTO, Sept. 15, 2017 /CNW/ - The Canada-United States-Mexico trilateral relationship is a model to the world. It supports growth, innovation and well-paying jobs in all three countries. Canada buys more goods from the U.S. than any other single nation and is the top export market for a majority of U.S. states. Thanks to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), we not only sell things to each other, we also make things together. About half of U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico takes place between related companies.

Today the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage, met with stakeholders such as screenwriters, musicians, artists, publishers and other key players from the creative sector in Toronto to consult with them on NAFTA negotiations. This meeting is part of an ongoing series of NAFTA consultations with Canada's creative sector by the departments of Canadian Heritage and Global Affairs Canada. Minister Joly heard directly from those in the creative sector, which provides the Government of Canada with the information it needs to engage effectively on NAFTA matters with implications for cultural policies.

When setting out Canada's objectives for NAFTA negotiations in August, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that in modernizing NAFTA, Canada "will uphold and preserve the elements in NAFTA that Canadians deem key to our national interest" such as the "exception in the agreement to preserve Canadian culture."

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"Canada's cultural policies support the development of flourishing cultural industries and ensure that Canadians have access to Canadian content in a changing media environment. Canadians understand the importance of these policies, and I am working with Minister Freeland to uphold this key national interest in NAFTA negotiations."

?The Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Canadian Heritage

SOURCE Canadian Heritage