Cutting social programs is a big part of the low-wage economic strategy of free trade. The cuts are meant to weaken support for people so much that they will accept any job no matter how low the pay or how poor the working conditions. Here in Canada, big business successfully campaigned against attempts to strengthen the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. The BCNI also defeated new regulations to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions linked to global warming. Only intense lobbying by environmental groups headed off the passage of the Regulatory Efficiency Act.
Chances are it's been a while.
That's because, with few exceptions, our TV and film screens are filled with US products and our magazine racks are choked with foreign titles. US multinationals enjoy a stranglehold on Canada's cultural market. That's why, whenever we try to do something to help our cultural community, the US threatens to retaliate. Because the content is almost identical, there are little or no extra editorial costs. Under public pressure, the Liberal government used the cultural exemption to impose a hefty tax on these magazines.