Cultural Policy and Federalism by Jonathan Paquette

Author:Jonathan Paquette
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9783030126803
Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Competitive strategies may also entail the development of new institutions. In some instances, occupying a power, using it to claim a jurisdictional capacity to act in the long term, can be seen in the repertoire of strategies mobilized by governments. In Canada, the provinces of Ontario and Québec have developed their own public broadcasting systems, more or less, as a political response to the presence of federal public broadcasting through the English Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the French Radio-Canada. In the 1970s, the Government of Ontario created TV Ontario (TVO) in English, with a French section in operation until the full development of a provincial channel in French (TFO). Similarly, and also in the early 1970s, Québec’s legislature and government decided to establish a public corporation, Radio-Québec (now Télé-Québec). Both cases evidence a certain attempt by provincial governments to offer a response to what was provided by the federal public corporation. These projects were, and remain, attempts to provide a distinctive provincial voice in public affairs and education (Laurence 1982; Bernier 1989; Nielsen 1995). Similarly, after World War II, Bavaria was very active in the cultural sector, developing standards for radio-broadcasting which privileged local music, as well as content associated with “high-culture”, as a mean of reaching an ideal of identity. This ideal was in clash with American popular culture. This response from Bavaria was singular as it was a rapid response and use of cultural powers compared to other subnational jurisdictions, and it offered views that were also strikingly different from those entertained at the federal level (Monod 2000).

Federal and subnational legislatures and governments can enter into a variety of competitive strategies in order to protect or further their power over cultural affairs. Requesting more powers can be seen as a competitive strategy in cultural affairs. In Austria, where the subnational governments are generally sympathetic to the intervention of the federal government in cultural affairs, there have been cases where discontent was expressed and subnational governments (re)claimed some of their cultural powers. The province of Vorarlberg, in 1979, launched an initiative to reclaim powers in education, broadcasting, and other cultural affairs—including monuments protection—that had slowly been taken by the federal government (Erk 2004: 10–11). This is exceptional in the Austrian federal system, but it highlights how important it is for a jurisdiction to use its power. In Canada, provinces are commonly requiring more powers from the federal legislature. In recent years, provinces like Québec and New Brunswick acquired some rights to conduct international cultural affairs as members of international institutions, such as UNESCO or the Francophonie organization . On other matters, provinces like Ontario, Québec, and British Columbia have required more powers from the federal government in areas such as digital media as a way of both ensuring their producers have access to new digital platforms and increasing their taxation capacities to fund their creative industries. The taxation of big international corporations —such as Netflix—has become a point of contention in the federal/provincial relationships in Canada.

Requesting more power is

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