Stakeholders laud Feds for maintaining cultural exemption in new trade deal

OTTAWA – The Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) and ACTRA praised the federal government Monday for ensuring that the cultural exemption remained in the new North American free trade agreement, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).The cultural exemption, which was included in NAFTA, recognizes Canada’s sovereign right to adopt measures and policies to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions within its territory, a right recognized in 2005 in the UNESCO Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, of which Canada was the first signatory.CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin said that by...