In recent weeks, Canada’s federal government has taken seemingly contradictory stances on the protection and promotion of Canadian culture.

On the one hand, after years of efforts to legislate and regulate online streaming, the government slashed the royalties imposed on foreign digital streaming platforms operating in Canada in order to facilitate trade negotiations with the United States.

Then, in a dramatic turn of events, the government called off those very negotiations, arguing that U.S. demands regarding Canadian cultural and linguistic sovereignty went too far.

Particularly at issue was the relaxation of rules imposed on major streaming platforms aimed at increasing the visibility of French-language Canadian content.

How can we explain this double standard? The federal government’s shifting stance highlights the central dilemma of trying to exercise cultural sovereignty under free trade.

Gains and concessions

Ottawa’s double standard regarding cultural sovereignty is nothing new.

When negotiations for the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) began in 1986 — with more than 120 countries at the table — services joined goods as a subject of free trade agreements for the first time.

Although the GATS did not enter into force until 1995, trade liberalization in cultural........

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