An escalating trade war with the United States over Canada’s cultural protections appears to have had a pleasant consequence: Canadians are rushing to brush up on their French. 

Downloads of Mauril, CBC/Radio-Canada’s French and English language-learning app surged roughly 20-fold in recent days, as Prime Minister Mark Carney’s decision to walk away from trade negotiations with Washington thrust the protection of French and Canadian culture into the national spotlight. 

As Ottawa draws a red line around its cultural sovereignty, producers are urging the government to reconsider an earlier decision to ease financial obligations on foreign streaming giants—like Netflix and Amazon Prime—a move the cultural sector widely viewed as a concession to Washington.

Some groups are saying this is an opportunity for Ottawa to reverse its course on its original plant to eliminate a CRTC requirement that major foreign streamers contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues toward Canadian programming.

Ahdithya Visweswaran, Director, Advocacy and Public Policy at Canadian Parents for French said this is a tangible indicator that Canadians are “rallying around” the country’s core piece of identity, amid U.S.-Canada trade war. 

“Protecting French is really essential to Canadian identity, and walking away from the negotiating table when culture and identity and language are placed on in trade talks is the right thing to do, because it preserves who we are as a country,” Visweswaran said in an interview with iPolitics. 

This comes as Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters on Saturday’s address that the proposed deal included “threats to French language and culture.” 

READ MORE: ‘Because we were attacked’: Carney hits back after U.S. trade talks collapse 

But whether Washington was actually seeking to undermine the French language has itself become a point of contention. 

U.S. President Trump rejected claims on interfering with Canadians’ bilingualism in a Truth Social post on Tuesday, claiming that it was a lie Carney made up to gain political support from Quebec. 

U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer on the other hand told CNBC on Monday stating that conflict was over streaming discoverability and the rule that forces American tech companies to take their earnings and give a percentage to their competitors in Canada. 

“The questions is not about love, the questions is about sovereignty,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said at Tuesday’s press conference. 

Joly said the issue extends beyond language to Canada’s ability to protect its cultural sector and roughly 900,000 people who work in creative industries. 

READ MORE: Canada to match U.S. tariffs on dollar-for-dollar basis, expand supports for business and workers 

“We are a country that believes in having two official languages and that’s part of why we decided…more than 150 years ago to make this important alliance between English and French people,” Joly said. 

She added that it’s also about protecting Canada’s cultural sector, with up to 900,000 people working in the creative industry, and that the federal government drew this “red line.” 

Despite putting a full stop to protect the cultural sector, Ottawa had already moved to ease another cultural policy that had drawn the ire of Washington before trade talks collapsed. 

Earlier this summer, the federal government announced it would move to eliminate a CRTC requirement that major foreign streaming services contribute 15 per cent of their Canadian revenues toward Canadian programming, replacing the contribution with $600 million annually in government funding. 

The move came after the Online Streaming Act emerged as a trade irritant to the U.S., and was widely viewed by Canada’s cultural sector as a concession to Washington—though Carney has maintained the decision was driven by affordability. 

As first reported by the Wire Report, Canadian Identity Minister Marc Miller’s office had also confirmed that the move will not repeal the Online Streaming Act, and said streamers company will still be required to reinvest some revenues in Canadian media.

With the trade talk collapsed, culture groups are urging Ottawa to reconsider that decision. 

Kyle Irving, Chair of the Canadian Media Producers Association and Co-Founder of Eagle Vision, said the failed negotiation offers the federal government an opportunity to “reset the table” and allow the CRTC’s original framework to proceed. 

“I think the government came to the realization that making these concessions was a bit of a runaway train, that they weren’t going to get something in return… so walking away from the deal gives us an opportunity… to get things right,” Irving said. 

“Walking back promises around the CRTC decision and giving new policy direction seems like a natural next step because there’s a process that’s been functioning in this country for decades.” 

Carol Ann Pilon, Director of Alliance des producteurs francophones du Canada, echoed a similar sentiment. 

She said APFC welcomed Ottawa’s promised $600 million annual investment, but rejected the idea that public funding should replace obligations on foreign streamers. 

Pilon said French-language productions outside Quebec rely heavily on federal funding, and warned that limiting the tools available to the CRTC could further constrain support for an already vulnerable sector. 

Unlike direct government funding, Pilon said CRTC-mandated contributions are tied to broadcasters’ and streamers’ revenues, meaning their contributions grow as their share of the Canadian market increases. She argued maintaining both sources of funding is particularly important for smaller francophone markets outside Quebec. 

“The government has time to change course,” Pilon said. 

A spokesperson from Miller’s office told iPolitics in a statement that it had nothing further to share when asked whether the government is reconsidering its plans, though noted that the government has invested more than $1.5 billion in Canada’s cultural sector over the past 10 months. 

“We also renewed Canada’s Creative Export Strategy, with $95 million over five years, followed by $19 million annually,” Hermine Landry, Press Secretary and Senior Communications Advisor to the Identity and Culture Minister’s office. 

“We will continue to stand behind our cultural sector, our creators and the stories that define who we are as Canadians,” Landry said. 

Following Carney’s conversation with opposition leaders, Bloc Québécois Leader Yves-François Blanchet also pushed the issue back onto the parliamentary agenda. 

“A gap remains to be filled regarding the contribution of online broadcasters to this funding,” Blanchet said in a statement in French on Tuesday.