Cultural Environment Analysis of Canada Terms of History and Geography Canada is the second largest country in the world by total area. It is also a rich and beautiful country in which Ottawa is the capital. It covers 9,984, 670 square kilometers of land and located in the Northern region of the United States of America. It has three ocean borders: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north. Canada has many different types of landscape, including high mountains, prairie grasslands, different types of forests, and arctic tundra where the ground is permanently frozen. The primary languages spoken by Canadian citizens throughout the country are English and French. One of the significant sectors in the Canadian economy is the manufacturing sector, that has a service-oriented economy and growth in manufacturing, it has become one of the top economies in the world. It maintains good relations with the most powerful country in the world, the USA. It also maintains good relations with the United Kingdom, France, and many other countries in the world. As an exporter, the statistics provides the willingness of a future excellent partnership with my country’s national manufacturing export sector. As a country we will continue to promote principles and objectives to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner with each country. Terms of Opportunity and Threat Canada has a long history of supporting cultural diversity.  Over several decades, Canada has equipped itself with a vast ecosystem of measures that contributes to the creation of an environment that actively promotes the expression of cultural diversity within its territory.  The ecosystem recognizes the social and economic value of cultural content and is constantly evolving to face new challenges, such as the transition to digital platforms. This ecosystem contains measures of all types of policies, laws, regulations, subsidy programs, and tax credits that complement one another and provide support at each stage of cultural expression; creation, production, distribution, dissemination, and participation.  By ensuring the continued existence of Canadian cultural products and making them accessible to the public, the system enriches the lives of its citizens while promoting mutually beneficial exchanges with the rest of the world. While we are seizing the opportunities of global and regional economic integration, preserving, and promoting domestic flexibility related to culture is a core objective for Canada in all international trade negotiations. Environmental assessments (EA) of trade negotiations are an important decision-making tool for promoting sustainable development. Environmental assessments of trade negotiations contribute to more open decision-making within the federal government by engaging representatives from other levels of government, the public, the private sector, and no ...

1. Cultural Environment Analysis of Canada
Terms of History and Geography
Canada is the second largest country in the world by total area.
It is also a rich and beautiful country in which Ottawa is the
capital. It covers 9,984, 670 square kilometers of land and
located in the Northern region of the United States of America.
It has three ocean borders: the Pacific Ocean in the west, the
Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north.
Canada has many different types of landscape, including high
mountains, prairie grasslands, different types of forests, and
arctic tundra where the ground is permanently frozen. The
primary languages spoken by Canadian citizens throughout the
country are English and French. One of the significant sectors
in the Canadian economy is the manufacturing sector, that has a
service-oriented economy and growth in manufacturing, it has
become one of the top economies in the world. It maintains
good relations with the most powerful country in the world, the
USA. It also maintains good relations with the United Kingdom,
France, and many other countries in the world. As an exporter,
the statistics provides the willingness of a future excellent
partnership with my country’s national manufacturing export
sector. As a country we will continue to promote principles and
objectives to create the conditions for cultures to flourish and to
freely interact in a mutually beneficial manner with each
country.
Terms of Opportunity and Threat
Canada has a long history of supporting cultural diversity. Over
several decades, Canada has equipped itself with a vast
ecosystem of measures that contributes to the creation of an
environment that actively promotes the expression of cultural
diversity within its territory. The ecosystem recognizes the
social and economic value of cultural content and is constantly

2. evolving to face new challenges, such as the transition to digital
platforms. This ecosystem contains measures of all types of
policies, laws, regulations, subsidy programs, and tax credits
that complement one another and provide support at each stage
of cultural expression; creation, production, distribution,
dissemination, and participation. By ensuring the continued
existence of Canadian cultural products and making them
accessible to the public, the system enriches the lives of its
citizens while promoting mutually beneficial exchanges with the
rest of the world. While we are seizing the opportunities of
global and regional economic integration, preserving, and
promoting domestic flexibility related to culture is a core
objective for Canada in all international trade negotiations.
Environmental assessments (EA) of trade negotiations are an
important decision-making tool for promoting sustainable
development. Environmental assessments of trade negotiations
contribute to more open decision-making within the federal
government by engaging representatives from other levels of
government, the public, the private sector, and non-
governmental organizations in this process. Environmental
assessments also improve overall policy coherence at the
national level by assisting decision-makers to understand
environmental implications of trade policy. Environmental
Assessments of trade negotiations conducted to date can be
found in the List of Environmental Assessments.
The preservation and promotion of cultural identity is of great
importance to Canada, and, in all international trade
agreements, our aim is to ensure that Canada maintains the
maximum flexibility to pursue its domestic cultural policy
objectives. To that effect, Canada’s existing bilateral and
regional trade negotiations all incorporate specific provisions
with respect to cultural industries to allow us to adapt existing
cultural policies and develop new policies in the future.
Services and Products
In fulfilling Canada's obligations under various trade

3. agreements, Canada’s Notification Authority and Enquiry Point
offers the following services and products to interested
stakeholders: Supporting Canadian regulators in identifying
issues for notifications and preparing relevant documentation;
Providing notification and related documentation to Canada's
WTO and other partners of proposed new or amended technical
regulations, conformity assessment procedures, and SPS
measures as required by Canadian trade agreements; Forwarding
of comments received on domestic and foreign measures to the
appropriate regulatory agency for consideration; Responding to
technical enquiries on a variety of topics including: national,
foreign and international standards; Canadian and foreign
technical regulations; conformity assessment procedures; and
SPS measures; Providing full texts of technical regulations,
conformity assessment procedures, and SPS measures notified.
Exports
Nicknamed the Great White North, Canada exported a total
US$390.8 billion worth of products around the globe in 2020.
That dollar amount reflects a 0.1% increase since 2016 but a -
12.5% dip from 2019 to 2020. Based on the average exchange
rate for 2020, the Canadian dollar has depreciated by -1.2%
against the US dollar since 2016 and retreated by -1.1% from
2019 to 2020. Canada’s weaker local currency made Canadian
exports paid for in stronger US dollars relatively less expensive
for international buyers. Canada’s biggest export products by
value in 2020 were crude oil, cars, gold, automotive parts or
accessories and sawn wood. In aggregate, those major exports
account for over one quarter of the Canada’s overall exports
sales. The commodities themselves suggest a modestly
diversified range of exported goods. Canada ranks among
world-leading nations for exporting sawn wood, crude
oil, cars and gold. The latest available country-specific data
shows that 91.4% of products exported from Canada were
bought by importers in: United States (73.5% of the global

4. total), China (4.8%), United Kingdom (3.8%), Japan (2.4%),
Germany (1.2%), Mexico (1.2%), Netherlands (1.0%), South
Korea (0.9%), France (0.7%), Italy (0.7%), India (0.7%) and
Norway (0.5%). From a continental perspective, 74.6% of
Canada’s exports by value were delivered to fellow North
American countries while 12.3% were sold to Asian importers.
Canada shipped another 10.1% worth of goods to Europe.
Smaller percentages went to Latin America excluding Mexico
but including the Caribbean (1.4%), Africa (1%) then Oceania
led by Australia and New Zealand (0.5%).
Given Canada’s population of 38 million people, its total $390.8
billion in 2020 exports translates to roughly $10,300 for every
resident.
The following export product groups categorize the highest
dollar value in Canadian global shipments during 2020. Also
shown is the percentage share each export category represents
in terms of overall exports from Canada.
1. Mineral fuels including oil: US$69.1 billion (17.7% of total
exports)
2. Vehicles: $46.5 billion (11.9%)
3. Machinery including computers: $28.9 billion (7.4%)
4. Gems, precious metals: $23 billion (5.9%)
5. Wood: $13.5 billion (3.4%)
6. Plastics, plastic articles: $12.4 billion (3.2%)
7. Electrical machinery, equipment: $11 billion (2.8%)
8. Ores, slag, ash: $9.9 billion (2.5%)
9. Aircraft, spacecraft: $9.7 billion (2.5%)
10. Pharmaceuticals: $8.5 billion (2.2%)
Canada’s top 10 exports are worth about three-fifths (59.5%) of
the overall value of Canadian global shipments.
The Canadian government uses a combination of financial
incentives, Canadian content requirements, tax measures, rules
on foreign investments and intellectual property tools to
promote Canadian culture. Working together, government and
the cultural sector have been able to develop a policy and
regulatory environment that ensures that Canadians have access

5. to the best the world has to offer while preserving a space for
Canadian culture.
Over time, Canada's cultural policies have evolved, constantly
adapting to changes in both the domestic and the global
markets. As we approach the beginning of the 21st century,
massive changes - driven by technology and "freer" trade - are
creating both opportunities and challenges for our cultural
industries.
Digitization and the convergence of the broadcasting, cable,
satellite, and telecommunications sector are creating new
technologies, which will compete with existing distribution
systems. At the same time, there will be even greater
opportunity to distribute Canadian content both at home and
abroad.
Emerging technologies are offering Canadians new
communications tools but are also challenging the government's
ability to enforce regulations designed to ensure that Canadians
have access to Canadian cultural products. (Note: Here and
throughout the paper cultural "products" refers to both goods
and services.)
With the growth of multinational corporations and the vertical
integration of entertainment, distribution and delivery systems
and products, national policies are shifting and adapting to
address these changes.
The trend to more open markets and a free trading world make it
more challenging to negotiate trade agreements that recognize
cultural diversity and the unique nature of cultural products.
These changes are already having an impact. Over the past few
years, cultural policies designed for our own cultural industries
have come under close international scrutiny. As a nation, we
believe in the benefits of open markets, but we are concerned
about the effect that global trade, combined with rapid
technology change, may have on our ability to promote
Canadian culture.
How should Canada respond to these pressures? What is the
right balance between domestic policies that promote Canadian

6. culture and trade policies that enable Canada to prosper in a
free trading world?
Bribery and Corruption
On December 17, 1997, Canada signed the Convention on
Combating Bribery in International Business Transactions of the
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(OECD Convention). In 1998 Parliament passed the Corruption
of Foreign Public Officials Act (CFPOA) to implement
Canada’s obligations under the OECD Convention into
Canadian law.
The OECD Convention aims to stop the flow of bribes and to
remove bribery as a non-tariff barrier to trade, producing a level
playing field in international business. The OECD Convention
came into force on February 15, 1999, following Canada’s
ratification. To date, 44 states have ratified the OECD
Convention, including the 36 member states of the OECD and
eight non-member states: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria,
Colombia, Costa Rica, Peru, Russia, and South Africa.
In June 2013 Parliament amended the CFPOA to increase the
maximum penalty for convicted individuals, to create a new
books and records offence and to expand jurisdiction based on
nationality. In addition, the 2013 amendment stated that later
the Government would eliminate the exception for facilitation
payments. Facilitation payments are those made to foreign
public officials to secure or expedite the performance of acts of
a routine nature that are within the scope of the official's duties.
The repeal came into force on October 31, 2017, and such
payments are now included under the foreign bribery offences
listed in the CFPOA.
In September 2018, a Remediation Agreement (RA) regime
came into force through the creation of a new Part (Part XXII.1)
of the Criminal Code. An RA is a new tool available for use by
prosecutorial authorities – at their discretion, in the public
interest and in appropriate circumstances – to address corporate
criminal wrongdoing. It is an agreement, between an
organization accused of committing a listed offence and a

7. prosecutor, to stay any proceedings related to that offence, if
the organization complies with the terms of the agreement.