CanCon Required for Target? Who Knew?

[jon]

Feds take aim at Target's Canadian content
By Jason Fekete, Postmedia News
April 6, 2012 9:07 AM

OTTAWA - The federal government has launched a review under the Investment Canada Act into whether retail giant Target's move into Canada could erode the amount of Canadian cultural content on store shelves and hurt domestic publishing houses.

The federal government, on the recommendation of Heritage Minister James Moore, says in a cabinet order it's ``in the public interest'' to review - under section 15 of the act, which deals with cultural heritage and national identity - ``the investment by Target Canada Co. to establish a new Canadian business carried on by Target.''

Target announced in January 2011 a $1.83-billion deal to acquire the leases on up to 220 Zellers stores from Hudson's Bay Co. Target has since purchased the leases of 189 sites currently operated by Zellers and plans to open 125 to 135 stores in Canada, the majority of which will open in 2013.

Depending on the outcome of the review, Target could be required to introduce more Canadian authors and musicians on their store shelves and distribute imported titles through Canadian-controlled publishers, among other measures.

``The government is committed to ensuring that foreign investments benefit Canadians. We will review Target's proposal and make an announcement in due course,'' James Maunder, director of communications for Moore, said Thursday in an emailed statement.

Target's plans to sell cultural content such as books, CDs and DVDs will be subject to a net-benefit test under the Investment Canada Act. Cases are approved based on a commitment to Canadian content.

Under that test, the government could seek commitments such as ``the development of Canadian authors'' and for the company to ``support the infrastructure of the book distribution system,'' according to Canadian Heritage's foreign investment policy on book publishing and distribution.

``The Investment Canada Act requires that foreign investments in the book publishing and distribution sector be compatible with national cultural policies and be of net benefit to Canada and to the Canadian-controlled sector,'' explains the policy.

The federal cabinet order was issued March 27, with the review to begin immediately. There's no timeline for when it will be completed.

Millions of dollars of direct federal investments in the cultural sector could potentially be undercut if Canadian publishers take a financial hit from the entrance of a large foreign retailer into the Canadian market. The federal government invests around $30 million annually in Canadian publishing houses.

``Our planned retailing of cultural products - DVDs, music (CDs), books, magazines - is subject to review by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. This process commenced with the issuance of the Order in Council,'' Lisa Gibson, spokeswoman for Target Canada, said Thursday in an email.

The Minnesota-based mass merchant, which has more than 1,700 stores across the United States, has been looking at entering Canada for more than a decade.

Over the past few months, Target has announced the locations of its stores across the country. The first 24 store openings in Canada will be a group of Zellers sites in southern Ontario, which will open in March and early April 2013.

Many Zellers stores slated to become Target outlets will be closed for six to nine months for remodelling, with about $10-million to $11-million spent to upgrade each location.

Rodger Touchie, publisher of B.C.-based Heritage House Publishing, said the arrival of retail powerhouses such as Costco, Walmart and now Target certainly makes it more challenging for both small and large Canadian bookstores and publishers.

``The Canadian publishing industry does need protection, does need support or it will not exist,'' Touchie said Thursday in an interview.

He urged the government not to relax the ownership rules of publishing houses that are already being supported by the federal government.

On products provided in stores, Touchie said it's difficult for the government to coerce companies to carry more Canadian cultural content. However, he said it's in large retailers' interests to carry more Canadian products in their stores.

``It's smart business to sell Canadian content in Canada,'' he said.

ref. - http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business ... story.html

[Howaboutthat]

That's right. Put up even more hoops for outside investors to jump through. Idiot bureaucrats.

[jon]

At the other end of the scale, I came away from reading this Macleans article, believing that the federal government seems more than happy to see Air Canada gone, without a scheduled air service alternative for smaller markets (e.g. - Prince Rupert).

As Air Canada battles its union, Lisa Raitt comes out swinging again
The minister is surprisingly fond of legislative sledgehammers
by Charlie Gillis on Monday, April 2, 2012 10:59am

The Dos and Don’ts of Labour Relations, if there is such a volume, would surely recommend against it. By dogging Lisa Raitt through the corridors of Pearson Airport last week, slow-clapping the federal labour minister as they went, three Air Canada groundworkers cost their union dearly in the court of public opinion. So did those who staged a wildcat strike to protest the trio’s suspension: Within 24 hours, more than 80 flights had been cancelled due to the job action. Passengers—already cranky from long lineups—began venting their frustration on employees trying to manage the mayhem.

Raitt’s office denied claims she had escalated the confrontation (“Arrest these animals,” a union official claimed she told police officers). But the incident illustrated how Air Canada’s parlous negotiations with its workers have been eclipsed by union antagonism toward the minister, whose fondness for legislative sledgehammers has caught many by surprise. In the last seven months, Raitt has moved four times to head off labour disruptions at the airline, using either the threat of back-to-work legislation or referrals to the federal labour board, to the outrage of union leaders. “Every time Air Canada sneezes,” grumbles Bill Trbovich, who speaks for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, “this government gets out the Kleenex and tries to correct the cough.”

Raitt, 43, has never been known for delicacy. She developed a taste for full-contact politics in the early 2000s when, as head of the federally appointed Toronto Port Authority, she waged a battle to expand the city’s island airport over the objections of then-mayor David Miller. At one memorable event in May 2003, she stood on a chair and shouted back at anti-expansion protesters who had crashed a Port Authority open house—the beginning of a campaign that saw her savaged in the local media. But ultimately she prevailed. The island has since become a business travel hub, with more than 1.5 million people using the airport each year.

Nor is she a model of humility. In 2009, as natural resources minister, she laid bare her ambition during a conversation about problems at the nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., which had caused a shortage of medical isotopes. Musing that the issue involved “sexy” elements like “radioactive leaks” and “cancer,” Raitt suggested that it could advance her career. The remarks, alas, were recorded inadvertently by her former press secretary, who then left her recorder at an Ottawa media event. The tape wound up in the hands of a Halifax newspaper columnist.

Embarrassing, but in politics ruthless ambition has its place. In June 2010, when Raitt took over the labour portfolio, the ruling Conservatives faced a gathering storm of expiring contracts in federally regulated industries, from the postal service to the national airline. The Tories, who make little secret of their distaste for labour action, wanted to keep disruptions to a minimum, and Raitt’s implacability seemed well suited to the task. One year later, she tabled legislation that forced locked-out postal workers back on the job, ignoring accusations by labour leaders that she was trammelling their bargaining rights.

So do Raitt’s interventions boil down to crass politics? Not exactly, says Ian Lee, a professor at Carleton University’s Sprott School of Business. Over the last 60 years, federal governments of all political stripes have cut short strikes that disrupted key transportation or communication networks, he notes. “The only difference with the Conservatives is that they don’t wait until the workers have been out on the picket line for three or four or seven days.” That polls suggest most Canadians support those moves is, for the government, an added bonus.

At the same time, says Lee, who has studied government intervention in federal labour disputes, Ottawa faces growing pressure to allow greater competition in Canadian skies, as recommended by a government-appointed competition panel in 2008. Few experts think Air Canada would survive long against foreign-backed competitors, given its bloated cost structure. So Lee thinks the government is merely “buying time” in heading off financially crippling labour disruptions at Air Canada. “I don’t think they’re doing this as a favour to Air Canada,” he adds. “They’re doing it to give themselves time to figure out what they’re going to do.”

Raitt, meanwhile, is sticking to her guns. While her office declined an interview request, she has been using her Twitter feed to fight her critics, slapping down posts or tweets about the Air Canada conflict which she deems inaccurate. In an email response to questions, a Raitt spokeswoman described the union’s account of the Pearson incident as “irresponsible, even defamatory,” but said it was one affront the minister planned to let slide. At least one party in this messy dispute, it seems, has read her Dos and Don’ts.

ref. - http://www2.macleans.ca/2012/04/02/when ... ore-248860