Does Canadian Culture Need Protecting?

Is Canadian cultural content ready to stand on its own merit in an increasingly globalized market?

There's a fight going on between American-owned e-commerce giant Amazon.com and the Canadian Booksellers Association. The digital distributor wants to open a warehouse in Canada to get its books to customers north of the border more quickly, but the CBA is afraid this is the first step in a takeover of the Canadian book market.

Host Chris Mitchell talks with four experts about what they think Amazon's encroachment could mean for Canada's literary industry and for Canadian culture on the whole.

Guests include:

Vice-president of the Canadian Booksellers Association, Mark Leslie Lefebvre, explaining why he thinks letting Amazon.com into Canada would devastate local authors and independent bookstores.

Writer and editor Arjun Basu on why the CBA shouldn't wrap their argument in the Canadian flag.

Author Stephen Henighan talking about the challenges faced by Canadian writers who aren't named Atwood and Ondaatje.

And former commissioner of Canada's competition bureau Sheridan Scott on whether Canadian culture needs to be protected and promoted.

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