CPTPP allows Canada to regulate streaming

for the Canadian government to move into regulating services like Netflix or in theory trying to block services like Netflix,” said Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor and Canada Research Chair in internet and e-commerce law.

“In the current environment that’s a bit unimaginable — the government has said they’re not interested in it,” said Geist, who is not a proponent of imposing broadcast-era regulations on online services.

“But the fact that that’s still a potential policy measure may be viewed by some as a future opportunity.”

The side letters also indicate the government wants to maintain cultural exemptions wiggle room to regulate as long as it applied the same rules to both domestic and foreign services.

“The two cultural conditions insisted on by the U.S. in the original TPP deal were not welcome although the practical implications were not very significant since they were worded in a way that Canada could probably have lived with,” said Peter Grant, lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault and expert on communications and cultural policy, in an email.

“That being said, it’s a distinct improvement for Canada to get rid of the conditions entirely,” Grant wrote.

It’s not clear exactly how or whether the government intends to use the side letters to advance policy, but Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly lauded the deal as one that will protect Canadian culture.

“The deal that Canada signed was the one we needed. We stayed focused on our goal and got the recognition from other countries of Canada’s unique culture and our flexibility to support, promote and protect it,” according to a statement from the minister’s press secretary.

“We pushed until the very end to get the protection that Canada needed to continue to support our artists and creators, something that Scheer-Harper Conservatives gave up right away. In a world where technology is changing daily, it’s the first time our government has firmly set out its ability to protect its culture and artists on the web.”