TORONTO (August 26, 2026)

Canada was right to refuse a trade deal that asked too much and offered too little.

Prime Minister Carney has made it clear that Canada will not compromise our sovereignty, the protection of the French language or our culture after U.S. negotiators sought fundamental concessions over these cherished rights.

It is now obvious to Canadians that the American administration has their eyes on far more than simple economic harms, they are seeking a fundamental weakening of the fabric of our nation.

ACTRA applauds the Government of Canada for holding firm and are pleased to see culture as a red line in negotiations. However, protecting cultural sovereignty is not limited to the demands of U.S. negotiators. It also means ensuring Canadians have sustainable resources, opportunities, and infrastructure to tell our own stories on screen.

Foreign streaming giants such as Netflix, Prime Video, and Disney + make billions from Canadian audiences. Canadian legislation must require that they contribute meaningfully to the Canadian cultural ecosystem that allows those audiences – and our stories – to flourish.

This works elsewhere in the world, and it would work here.

ACTRA is now calling on the Government of Canada to reverse course on rolling back portions of Online Streaming Act, including those meaningful Canadian programming expenditure requirements for foreign streamers operating in our market. Performers across Canada will inevitably lose roles, lose the ability to tell Canadian stories, and lose the ability to have a sustainable career in their own country if the Act is weakened.

A sustainable and successful domestic screen industry cannot exist if we can’t fund, own, discover, and tell our own stories.

The Online Streaming Act is a “Made in Canada” solution to funding and protecting our culture long-term and modernize our laws to ensure foreign streamers that profit in Canada play by the rules that cover Canadian broadcasters.

This is not the time to add debt onto Canadian taxpayers to fund culture while these foreign billionaires are free to do business here with zero obligations.

Canadian culture is not a trade irritant. It is part of our sovereignty and must never be a pawn in negotiations. It must be defended with the same ferocity in which Canada plans to protect all major industries that make Canada strong.