Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!utcsri!utegc!utai!ubc-vision!watmath!looking!brad From: brad@looking.UUCP Newsgroups: can.politics Subject: Re: Free trade, Canadian culture, $$ Message-ID: <742@looking.UUCP> Date: Fri, 20-Feb-87 11:29:07 EST Article-I.D.: looking.742 Posted: Fri Feb 20 11:29:07 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 21-Feb-87 02:51:07 EST References: <183@fornax.uucp> <741@looking.UUCP> <185@fornax.uucp> Reply-To: brad@looking.UUCP (Brad Templeton) Distribution: can Organization: Looking Glass Software Ltd. Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 52 In article <185@fornax.uucp> chapman@fornax.uucp (John Chapman) writes: > >The points are simple: > >$1.2 billion is sucked out of the canadian economy every year - I don't >know too many people who would think it's a bad idea to try and keep >some of this (*our*) money in our economy rather than sending it south. Actually, I don't care. It's not 'our' money. It's each individual moviegoers money. Where do you get off claiming that you have some claim on it? Even if I did care what other people spend their movie $$ on, I think its pointless to bicker about 'our' money and 'their' money. You like the idea of making people go to Canadian film distributors. Some yanks would rather that people buying cedar shingles buy them in the US. Some legislators would rather see you buy your books and computer parts in Canada in return. (Thank god they wised up on that! Who lobbied them? The CANADIAN publishers!) Endless bickering just to create more snivel serpents, hassles at the border and tax wastage. > >Canadian culture is already at a disadvantage since the decisions >about what movies will be available (and when) in our theatres are >made by foreign nationals. Please don't bother trying to tell me >it's all just controlled by the "market". Actually, I think the largest cinema chain in North America is now CinePlex/Odeon, which has its headquarters on Yonge St. in Toronto, not Hollywood. And while you asked me not to bother telling you this, I am quite sure that they choose what movies to show based one which ones will get the most ticket buyers. > >A Canadian distributor (with control) is more likely to say "yeah >let's show that for a week in March" than >someone in Los Angeles. Hoever nothing was mentioned about barring >American films from Canadian movie houses. It is rarely explicit. The point is that any attempt to artificially shift the market does displace somebody at the expense of somebody else. Platoon was, if you couldn't figure it out, a satirical example. The nationalists have a simple message: "Buy Canadian", and sometimes, "Buy Canadian, OR ELSE!" The market has another message: "Buy the best, and force your neighbours to make it or go out of business." The first strategy encourages Canadians to be ... well ... Canadian. That accomplishes a lot. -- Brad Templeton, Looking Glass Software Ltd. - Waterloo, Ontario 519/884-7473