National Post
· collected 2026-09-07 · by Special to National Post
analysis
The United States pressed Canada on the protection of the French language and our culture until the very last minute of negotiations.
asserted
States → press → negotiations
Reporting on the leaked terms adds that Ottawa was asked to scupper its digital legislation.
asserted
Ottawa → leak → legislation
The American side disputes the characterization.
asserted
side → dispute → characterization
Trade representative Jamieson Greer calls Canada’s streaming rules “the farthest thing from the red line,” and Canada’s minister for trade with the U.S., Dominic LeBlanc, has welcomed Washington’s withdrawal of its positions on language and culture.
asserted
minister → call → language
He still confirms that American negotiators had questions about online streaming rules, and he listed “digital trade alignment” among the things a deal would contain.
asserted
deal → confirm → things
A demand that can be withdrawn can be made again.
asserted
that → withdraw → ?
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Quebec’s Bill 109, An Act to affirm the cultural sovereignty of Quebec, was adopted unanimously by the National Assembly last December and will require streaming platforms and device makers to surface French-language content for Quebec users.
asserted
Bill → affirm → users
Its constitutionality is contested, because broadcasting has long been federal ground; that argument belongs to Canadian judges applying the division of powers.
asserted
argument → contest → powers
A foreign government put the repeal of Canadian statutes on a tariff schedule and came close to getting it.
asserted
government → put → it
That is the logical end of a bargain Canada has been making quietly, and without argument, since the first free trade agreement.
asserted
Canada → make → agreement
Whether our laws survive is a question for our courts.
asserted
survive → survive → courts
I spent my career on the free trade side of it.
asserted
I → spend → it
I advised Ontario’s cabinet committee during the original NAFTA negotiations and the government of British Columbia during its implementation.
asserted
I → advise → implementation
Open markets made Canadians richer, and I would make that case again tomorrow.
asserted
I → make → case
Having sat through those early trade rooms, I can tell you we never intended free trade to mean regulatory surrender.
asserted
trade → sit → surrender
Somewhere along the way we confused two things.
asserted
we → confuse → things
Neoliberalism was an argument for restraining our own government.
asserted
Neoliberalism → restrain → government
In the digital economy we turned it into an argument for not governing at all, and assumed a rulebook we declined to write would stay blank.
asserted
we → turn → argument
It filled with somebody else’s.
asserted
It → fill → somebody
A market is a set of rules: property that can be owned, contracts a court will enforce, entry that is possible for a firm with a better product and no incumbent’s permission.
asserted
that → own → product
Someone writes those rules.
asserted
Someone → write → rules
I agree with the familiar complaint about Canadian economic policy, then part company with it.
asserted
I → agree → it
Ottawa protects the wrong things.
asserted
Ottawa → protect → things
It shelters cartels in banking, telecom, airlines and dairy, which raises prices on Canadians and manufactures most of the irritants that dominate every negotiation we enter, and it then declines to protect competition in the one market where Canadian firms are price-takers with nowhere to go.
asserted
firms → shelter → market
We were promised that a fat, lazy incumbent invites competition.
asserted
incumbent → promise → competition
Digital markets run the other way.
asserted
markets → run → ?
The more users a platform has, the more data it gathers and the better it gets at keeping them
asserted
it → have → them
, so the leader pulls further ahead each year.
asserted
leader → pull → ?
Nobody catches up from behind.
asserted
Nobody → catch → ?
We over-govern where we should compete.
asserted
we → govern → ?
We under-govern where we are being farmed.
asserted
we → govern → ?
Take the market Canadian businesses actually buy in.
asserted
businesses → take → market
An advertiser bids for inventory on an exchange owned by the company, Google, that also owns the publisher’s ad server.
asserted
that → bid → server
In April 2025 an American federal court found that arrangement illegal.
asserted
arrangement → find → April
Canada’s Competition Bureau filed its own case in November 2024, and twenty-one months on, the Tribunal has disposed of a preliminary motion while the liability hearing has not started.
asserted
hearing → file → motion
Now consider what Washington calls unfair.
asserted
Washington → consider → what
The 2026 National Trade Estimate Report lists, among barriers to American trade in Canada, an entry titled Sovereign Cloud Initiative, whose offence was that Shared Services Canada asked suppliers whether Ottawa’s own data could stay in Canada.
uncertain
data → list → Canada
Two entries above sits Buy Canadian, which gives Canadian bidders a 10 per cent credit at evaluation and excludes nobody.
asserted
which → sit → nobody
The Buy American Act of 1933 adds 20 per cent to a foreign bid before it is weighed against a domestic one, 30 for a small business, 50 at the Pentagon.
asserted
it → add → Pentagon
The Berry Amendment, a 1941 law requiring the pentagon to buy its food, clothing and textiles from American producers, has never been waived under any trade agreement the United States has signed.
asserted
States → require → agreement
…and 18 more, not listed.
