Unpredictable. Unfocused. Just like life.

In commenting on Canadian cultural policy, Michael Geist makes this curious statement (emphasis mine):

Given our easy access to Hollywood movies and U.S. television programming, it is unsurprising that Canadians have long placed great emphasis on cultural policies. To avoid marginalizing homegrown talent, Canada has set Canadian content as a key objective in the Broadcasting Act, established foreign ownership restrictions within the cultural industries, and safeguarded cultural policies in its international trade agreements.

Now I'm willing to bet that the average Canadian neither supports nor even has a clue about Canadian cultural policy. In fact, Hockey Night in Canada is probably one of the highlights of Canadian culture on television. While there is some excellent Canadian programming - Corner Gas comes to mind - much Canadian funding goes to producing shows like Zoe Busiek, a mediocre television drama, or movies that few watch but regularly show up in the mornings on The Movie Network on cable.

Canada's cultural policy is not the work or even the concern of average Canadians but seems instead intended to subvert market forces by forcing stations to play a certain amount of Canadian content. Popular bands like Rush, Sarah McLachlan, or Avril Lavigne would likely have become just as popular without such content mandates.

In many ways these cultural policies seem a way to support content that simply wouldn't be produced otherwise, because nobody would be interested and it wouldn't sell. No average Canadian wants this. And few average Canadians are aware of what is supported by television funding and would probably be astounded at the waste if they were.

It's a simple as this: What Canadian really wants to watch the Super Bowl with recycled Canadian advertising substituted for possibly the most innovative commercials of the year?

And why is it that it is illegal to subscribe to an American service like DirecTV? If Canadians didn't want American television, then it certainly wouldn't be necessary to pass a law to make it a crime for them to subscribe to an American service.

Canadian cultural policy is simply a way for the government to protect the business models of Canadian artists and broadcasters. It does nothing for, and has nothing to do with the average Canadian.