Top-level industry reps invited from the cultural sectors converged in Toronto May 8-9 for the recent Culture/ Entertainment Dilemma hosted by the Canadian Journalism Foundation in Toronto, sponsored by the governments of Canada, Mexico and the u.s., with nbc, nanba and the Canadian Conference of the Arts.

Intended as a symposium for industry to brainstorm and discuss issues in a neutral forum, the topic ‘Sharing Markets, Accommodating Differences’ was successful in generating vigorous dialogue.

In the keynote, Stuart Goldfarb, senior vp and managing director Worldwide Business Development nbc, stated that nowhere have foreign imports ruined culture and went on to postulate that after two decades of cultural protection, there’s little sign of increasing Canadian production.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ Peter Miller refuted Goldfarb, saying ‘unfortunately Cancon works. It’s phenomenally successful, the ‘overzealous’ [Goldfarb’s term] regulators have created an industry that didn’t exist before.’

Citing export successes such as CHUM Ltd. and CanWest, reciprocal market access was flagged by Goldfarb as increasingly important to Canada as its entertainment exports increase. nbc is frustrated that its cnbc service, ‘which has access to every market throughout the world,’ cannot be carried here. Do it through subsidies, not limit choice, was the message from u.s. delegates.

The myth of the u.s. open-market policyspeak was debunked with examples of insular distribution practice cited by senior members of sectors of Canada’s cultural industries, beginning with numbers ­ floating the specter of 2% as the foreign share of the u.s. broadcast spectrum, versus over 61% as the level of foreign tv penetration in Canada, and the fact that for investments in u.s. broadcast entities, Canadians are limited to less than half the investment level the u.s. can make here.

Feedback from u.s. attendees indicates the concept of entertainment as culture seems destined to remain a non-sale to the u.s., despite a blindingly articulate Victor Rabinovitch, Canadian Heritage assistant deputy minister for cultural development and heritage, who gave a rousing comeback to Goldfarb’s anti-protectionist points, and cbc president and ceo Perrin Beatty, who also drew a line in the sand at the close of the confab, taking issue with Canada’s culture being lumped in with the likes of the sugar biz. ‘This is our national security ­ not an industry like any other. It’s an industry where special measures are justified.’

Looking ahead to the next challenge for sharing markets, nanba is planning to host the symposium’s sequel ­ ‘The future of regulatory intervention in the new media age: What are the North American prospects?’ ­ Feb. 8-10, 1998 in l.a., hopefully in tandem with the Canadian Consulate and ucla.