When Heated Rivalry — a queer hockey romance adapted from Nova Scotia author Rachel Reid’s novels — became the most-watched original series in Crave’s history and a breakout hit on HBO Max, Canada’s culture minister called it a “Cancon triumph.” And by every regulatory measure, it is: Canadian writer, Canadian director, Canadian production company, $3.1 million from the Canada Media Fund, certified under the CAVCO points system. But here is the paradox at the heart of Canadian cultural policy: Heated Rivalry qualifies as Canadian content not because it is steeped in hockey culture, not because its characters play for a Montreal team, and not because its source material was written in Halifax. 

It qualifies because Canadians hold enough of the key creative positions to score six out of ten on a checklist. A show about hockey made by non-Canadians in Toronto would not count. A show about nothing recognizably Canadian, made entirely by Canadians, would. The system that decides what constitutes Canadian culture does not actually measure culture. It measures citizenship. That distinction — between an industrial definition of Canadian content and a cultural one — is the unresolved tension running beneath the Online Streaming Act. At its core is a persistent question: how can the state protect Canadian culture while sustaining the industries that produce it?

From Spectrum Scarcity to Platform Power

Canadian broadcasting regulation emerged amid early 20th-century anxieties about American cultural influence. At a time when airwaves were scarce and U.S. signals transmitted across the border, regulators saw public interest mandates as tools to cultivate a distinctive Canadian broadcasting system. In this scarcity paradigm, prioritizing Canadian programming followed a clear logic: controlling distribution meant shaping culture. Canadian broadcasting policy has long tried to balance cultural protection with industrial sustainability, from early radio regulation in the 1920s to the creation of the CBC in 1936 as a counterweight to American dominance.

Digital streaming fundamentally alters these conditions. Distribution is global by default;........

© OpenCanada