"Will Canada be the only member of the G-20 to sit out the burgeoning worldwide market for content in all of its formats?" -- CCA

The Canadian Conference of the Arts just released their latest bulletin, Canadian Cultural Exports: A Growing Success Worth Investing In:

"The numbers reveal a relative success story for the arts and culture sector with exports doubling from $1.5 billion in 1997 to $3 billion in 2006. Interestingly enough, growth in imports of cultural goods and services for the same period went from $1.5 billion in 1997 to $2.8 billion in 2006. This more modest rate of growth could however be largely due to the re-evaluation of the Canadian dollar over the period, which makes imports cheaper. That being said, taken together these figures represent a small cultural trade surplus for Canada in 2006."

Surplus? Yes, surplus. The CCA goes on to say:

"Will Canada be the only member of the G-20 to sit out the burgeoning worldwide market for content in all of its formats? This is a question only our leaders will be able to answer. Let us be sure that they are asked the question at every turn until a new strategy emerges."