Republicans in the late 19th century wanted to annex Canada. And the episode ought to serve as a warning for President Donald Trump.
Republicans in the late 19th century wanted to annex Canada. And the episode ought to serve as a warning for President Donald Trump.
Didn’t refute anything? My first comment spoke directly to the diminished options for main stream shows / shows with broader public appeal. Shows like North of North and Heated Rivalry are great to see in the mix, but they’re not really geared towards main stream interests – they focus on plots and characters that are ‘niche’, and which generally have less appeal/interest to the broader public. North of North is also a Netflix series, so that’s arguably American origin content – it’s one of those series that gets made, and aggressively marketed via algorithms, to meet government regulated content quotas. Even more, that there’s a large chunk of content that gets clipped, my point still remains valid that the standard of living / quality of life is diminished by clipping American content – by very definition, less choice/options, is a downgrade for Canadians. What I’d been pointing out with the ‘type’ of content delivered by the CBC, is that the cut in content when cutting American media, is largely mainstream / content popular with the majority of Canadians – and your examples of niche content for specific demographics, available on the cbc, isn’t enough to make up that shortfall.
My second note was broad stroke refutation of everything you’re trying to highlight, by simply pointing out that while you may be pontificating about this and that online, the cold hard truth is that Canadians aren’t moving in great numbers to clip things like American media/American streaming services, etc. You can armchair jockey all you want, but the boots on the ground (payment cards in the hands?) say that us Canadians don’t really care enough about Trump’s tariffs/trade shenanigans, nor about his administration’s policies, to reduce our options for streaming on apple or netflix or whatever, nor are people boycotting Amazon. Our creature comforts and convenience come first in our priority lists. Piss and moan about other options being around all you want, they’re not convenient enough, or high enough quality, for general Canadians to switch.
We’d rather sell the Americans our payment networks / critical infrastructure, and then the next week make a big blustery media storm about trade deals falling through because of sovereignty. We collectively shrug and make excuses for people like Danielle Smith, who runs to the USA to discuss trade rather than siding with her Canadian counterparts - Albertans, who are Canadians, still support her it seems. We are nowhere near as resilient / self-reliant as people seem to pretend at times, and there’s still no real indication that the public has moved aggressively away from American service providers, nor any indication that they would.
This just proves that you don’t know what the fuck you are talking about. Netflix funding, and slapping a “Netflix Original” label on it doesn’t make it American. The production company is Canadian, the crew is Canadian, the actors are Canadian (save one), the location is Canadian, it’s telling a Canadian story written by Canadians and also funded by CBC.
Netflix partners with local productions all over the world. That doesn’t make those productions American. Many countries have laws like C-11. Netflix pays some money for production costs and can get local content on their platform to fulfill rules like Cancon all over the world.
You made an utterly ridiculous non-point and demonstrated you clearly know nothing about the business.
Let me correct you, you don’t like those shows so you think they don’t have broad appeal.
Those are all currently in production shows.
But sure. They’re niche.
No. It really doesn’t. You are flat out wrong.
You have an interesting fantasy world. This shit takes time to extricate. And
Did you just advocate for a private business to be controlled by the government? I have no love for RBC, BMO or Moneris, but they’re all private companies. I just want to be clear, you think the government should have interfered? In a private sale, of a company? Because that’s what you just advocated.
We do? Me calling her a traitorous cunt is a favourite pastime of mine.
What a sad and pathetic attitude. I’m sorry you’ve given up, but not all of us have.
Edit: Funny enough, I’m watching an Australian TV show (one of a few I watch). I have no problem enjoying this “lower quality than American” TV show. It’s original, funny and doesn’t constantly reuse the same tired tropes.
Know nothing about business – ok, sure. Supply chain and source of funds matter. Netflix, a foreign company, funding a Canadian production is still arguably something that’d fall into the foreign-made content bucket. Specifically, it would fall into that bucket because we’re loosely discussing cutting American influence on Canadian content/media – you can’t take their money to make shows, if you’re cutting ties, so shows like North of North and other “Netflix” content would face more uncertain futures. It’s a valid criticism. Sorta like, if you’re trying to excise American influences from your day to day, you’d avoid McDonalds – even though the staff working there are generally Canadians. Or if you saw a show funded by China, made by Canadian chinese people, supporting China’s government values within a Canadian context, you likely wouldn’t think it Canadian / free from undue foreign influence.
Shows ‘showing’ in multiple countries doesn’t make them mainstream – it’s difficult to define what is mainstream these days, given how segmented the viewing markets are, and how captive audiences are to the ‘one new show’ that shows up on their streams that week. Viewership stats would count, especially if they broke down demographic splits, but those are very hard to come by – they’re also not very ‘organic’. In the ‘old days’, shows that were / are mainstream are things that got discussed at the office – Seinfeld, Friends in the 90s were frequently brought up. Shows that have themes, characters and plots that can cut across demographic segments and foster small talk banter in an office between the 50 year old accounting clerk and the 20 year old newbie. Some shows get brought up these days too – but typically not shows like the ones you’re listing. Likely partly because they are niche demographic areas that cannot be discussed openly without members outside that niche being accused of this or that.
In regards to banks selling payment networks – you do understand that banks / financial institutions are regulated entities, with the Federal Government regulating banks, and the Provincial Government regulating Credit Unions. These organisations generally can’t do shit without clearing it with regulators, without clearing it with the government. Things like their Deposit insurance require them to obey the governments demands – the Credit Unions in BC have basically all been getting forced to merge by the government, for example. Like “Why didn’t Canada have the same sub prime mortgage nightmare as the USA in 2008?” --> Because the banks werent allowed to do subprime mortgages, because the government told them what they could, and couldn’t, do. I may know nothing about business according to you, but I do know how that industry generally works.
As for Alberta, YOU may think one way or another about their premier. But they’re holding a fuckin referendum on sovereignty, at a ridiculous point in time. With their government having basically leaned on the scales the whole way to make it happen. And the province still, on aggregate, supports conservatives like PP, and support Danielle Smith’s party over the competition. So, you know, broaden your scope a little, think outside your own little bloody box, and see what’s going on with others in the province. They have a traitor leader, and they still support her. They still go along with her various bullshit initiatives.
And lastly, if you can’t understand that a reduction in product options is a reduction in the general standard of living, I think this conversation is at its end. You’re arguing against what’s essentially a self-proving statement, Fewer choices/options is practically part of the definition of a lower standard of living. You’re either failing to grasp basic concepts, or you’re intentionally just trolling / trying to pick fights and be anal about stupid shit. Neither possibility is particularly interesting, nor enticing to prolong this further.
You moved the goalposts back thirty years just to define cultural relevance by whether two office drones talked about Friends by the watercooler in 1995. That’s not media criticism, it’s just sad nostalgia.
A show made in Canada, written by Canadians, filmed by Canadian crews, and telling Canadian stories doesn’t turn American just because a US streaming platform cut a cheque. With that logic, half the British, French, and Japanese movies in existence magically belong to Hollywood. You clearly don’t know how the industry works, so you confuse the platform hosting the file with the people who actually made it.
And dragging out Wikipedia trivia about OSFI mortgage rules to talk about two banks selling off a debit terminal company is comedy. RBC and BMO cashing out on Moneris is routine corporate greed, not national surrender. Trying to spin a private business deal into proof that Canadians have no spine just shows you don’t understand what you’re even mad about.
As for Alberta, Danielle Smith kissing the ring in Florida and pushing a circus referendum doesn’t represent the country. She doesn’t even speak for the majority of Albertans who want nothing to do with her fringe lunacy separatist sideshow. Taking the loudest political clown in the country and pretending her tantrums define Canadian resolve is completely dishonest.
Having fewer American sitcoms to binge isn’t a drop in our standard of living, it’s just trimming bloat. We’re better off without that spoon fed pablum anyway. If you genuinely believe this country falls apart the second US media stops holding our hands, that’s a you problem. Stop projecting your own helpless dependency onto the rest of us.
Putting context/structure in to what I generally would consider mainstream is not moving the goalposts. It’s providing clarity on my position, and the rationale that I use to underpin it – sorta like what you were doing when you tried to frame ‘mainstream’ as “how many countries does it show in” in the prior post. I don’t consider a show mainstream unless it’s gotten enough ‘buzz’ to be discussed broadly in public – the small-talk at the office test is a good measure of that, especially as only things that are office-appropriate (acceptable broadly by the public) are kosher topics in most offices. You can’t exactly talk about risky stuff / niche interests without stepping on peoples feelings – having something like an open discussion in an office of something like the Residential School system, is an HR minefield. Similarly, “porn” isn’t mainstream to me, because it’s not openly discussed – even if it’s shown in many countries, meeting your criteria.
Who pays matters. Would North of North be made without that cheque getting cut? If not, then its existence is dependent on USA funding/capital/investment. Cutting ties to the USA means giving up that funding. If there are businesses in Canada that are totally dependent on US money in other industries, and cutting the US ties will kill those businesses, I’d say they were effectively controlled by the US market too. That’s… sorta one of the big, primary problems with what’s going on. So much of our stuff is dependent on US trade/money.
I didn’t drag out some wikipedia on OSFI. I worked in the banking sector, or auditing that sector, for decades. I’ve literally spoken to regulators / had meetings with them. I’ve watched how things like mergers, subsidiaries and other connected companies are treated by regulators. But please, do tell me what your experience is in the industry, such that you know better?
Danielle Smiths antics are a symptom of the temperament of Albertans – just like Donald Trump is a symptom of the temperament of general Americans. If you can get pissed off at America, or make generalisations about the state of current American culture based on their “loudest political clown”, you can do the same with Alberta.
Did I say the country falls apart, or are you attempting to attribute words/concepts to me that are laughable, in an attempt to discredit my perfectly reasonable position? I said that Canadians don’t have the same resolve, and that they’d rather maintain their current standard of living, likely to the point that they’d accept huge compromises on things like trade. Our government can’t function without Windows/Microsoft and the other big tech companies – or rather, the downgrade in functionality would be an intolerable trade off for the electorate, compared to caving on trade items – so they’d vote in people to cave.
Did you seriously just compare Indigenous history and television to porn?
Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. Your whole argument isn’t about economics—you’re just blatantly uncomfortable with any culture that doesn’t cater directly to straight white guys at a watercooler. The idea that something only counts as “mainstream” if it’s bland enough for corporate middle-management small talk is pathetic.
Yes, literally. CBC and APTN commissioned and paid to produce it before Netflix ever bought distribution rights. You were completely wrong on the facts, and you still don’t grasp the basic difference between funding production and buying a broadcast license. Streamers buy our shows because they make money off them, not to do Canada a favor.
“In banking, or auditing that sector” is classic anonymous resume-padding. If you actually spent decades in that room, you’d know the feds can’t just veto two private corporations selling a private asset on a whim without facing massive lawsuits. Regulators govern risk and solvency, not national sentiment. The government doesn’t step into private commercial sales just to soothe your personal anxiety.
You mean you don’t.
You keep typing paragraphs trying to convince me Canadians are spineless cowards who will surrender our sovereignty just to keep our Windows licenses and Netflix queues. You aren’t describing this country’s resolve. You’re just projecting your own complete lack of one.
You’re accusing me of being a racist / bigot, just because I say that topics such as the residential school system are not ‘safe’ work appropriate topics? Seriously? What fantasy world do you live in?
The CBC / public funding is partially dependent on US funding via equity programs. I’m not sure how the APTN is funded, but I’d be interested to know if they’re self-sufficient, or if they rely on funding via public sources, which ultimately come from US sources as well. And as for whether they’d make it or not, what happened to other similar shows when Netflix’s funding disappeared? They’ve disappeared, because their survival is dependent on the US funding they receive.
So, objectively, you’re wrong on the banking side. And unless you have some actual experience in that realm to offer up, I can’t really argue with you as you’re arguing on theoretical imagination as to how the systems work, and I’m basing my viewpoint in how it actually works through experience working in that industry. Don’t be bitter that other people have had more experience in an industry than you, and can speak with more authority.
“You mean you don’t”. I’m the one who’s looking at the bigger aggregate pictures, and highlighting things like Alberta’s “general” support of Smith. Because I’m thinking outside my own perspective, and looking for broader societal data points to base my comments on. And because I can see most Canadians around me, doing/having done less to excise low-hanging US fruit type connections from their lives – and when asked, they don’t give a shit about trade stuff, they mostly just care to have their creature comforts / perks. Again, the basic fact that Canada is content to keep using / supporting all US services “on aggregate”, indicates we don’t give that much of a fuck about what’s going on.; we don’t care that the USA is “attacking us”, if caring means we need to consider ditching Microsoft. Alberta doesn’t care that their prem is a traitor, they still support her and trumpian style conservativism. Like she even spins it as “an approach that gets us better treatment from America!” … backstabbing the rest of Canada! And Alberta generally shrugs.
You keep circling back and making these pissant character attacks against me, often using trite online-verbiage that hints at your own character. I think I’ll finally follow through and be ignoring this from now on. If you’d like to make some final closing personal attacks, have at it.
You didn’t just say it was an unsafe topic, you literally compared an Indigenous TV show to porn. Don’t play the victim now because you got called out on it.
And claiming the US funds the CBC and APTN is complete bullshit. APTN runs on Canadian cable fees and the CMF, and CBC gets its money from Parliament. Neither of them is waiting on American cheques to exist. You’re just pulling things out of your ass at this point.
Same with the banking. Still not one actual law or rule mentioned, just more “trust me bro, I worked there” because you don’t actually know how the feds could stop two private banks from selling an asset.
This is the second time you’ve told me you’re leaving the conversation. You don’t need to give me permission for the last word. You’re just checking out because you’ve run out of bullshit to make up.