US embassy cable - 05OTTAWA3101

UNCLAS OTTAWA 003101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
PARIS PASS UNESCO; STATE PASS USTR 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CA, ETRD, PREL, SCUL 
SUBJECT: DIPLOMATIC NOTE REGARDING UNESCO CULTURAL 
DIVERSITY IMPASSE 
 
REF: SECSTATE 190825 
 
1. (SBU)  Post delivered reftel diplomatic note by fax on 
receipt Saturday, October 15.  The Ambassador followed up 
with Jonanthan Fried, senior official at the Privy council 
Office.  Fried said that he had just spoken to Faryar Shirzad 
at the NSC on the same subject but that the GOC remains 
convinced that the language in the Convention does not affect 
Canada's WTO commitments, and that he had offered to get 
International Trade Canada's lawyers to speak to our lawyers 
on the subject. (Fried also offered some other points of 
contact on the trade side, which Post passed on to the U.S. 
Mission to UNESCO.) He continued to hold to that line during 
follow-up contacts with the Ambassador and the DCM Saturday 
and Sunday, observing that "we in the Government of Canada do 
not want this treaty to weaken our trade commitments". We 
note, however, that the latest press release from Canadian 
Heritage Minister Frulla states that "the Convention will be 
on an equal footing with other international treaties." 
 
2. (SBU)  Comment: The current minority government is clearly 
giving Minister Frulla a free hand on this issue because of 
its political value in Quebec, where the Liberal Party is on 
a shaky footing.  However, it appeals to other groups in 
Canada as well.  Canada's stance reflects a longstanding 
political culture that continues to support regulation of 
content even on private subscriber-based audiovisual services 
such as satellite radio, to say nothing of onerous language 
rules within Quebec. End comment. 
 
Visit Canada's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/ottawa 
 
WILKINS