The French language and Quebec and Canadian culture might be trade irritants for the Americans but in Canada they are fundamental rights, Prime Minister Mark Carney said Monday.

Trade talks with the United States broke down Friday, which meant new 50 per cent tariffs on a host of Canadian products took effect Saturday just after midnight.

Carney said among the reasons for the suspension of trade negotiations were demands from the U.S. that would have affected Canada’s ability to protect its culture, including the French language.

Carney said the U.S. put pressure on Canada to adjust its position on discoverability rules, which if implemented would affect what options Canadians see when they use streaming services. He said French-language labels were also on the list of American irritants.

At a press conference in Lévis, Que., Carney was asked about comments by U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

Greer said he issue in the trade talks wasn’t the French language, calling that a “funny fake story.” He said the problem was requiring U.S. streaming companies to make financial contributions toward Canadian content.

As part of its work to implement the Online Streaming Act, the CRTC imposed Canadian content financial contributions for streamers and began work on discoverability requirements.

But the Liberal government already moved in June to eliminate the financial contribution requirements for streaming platforms like Netflix.

After the broadcast regulator increased contributions to 15 per cent of Canadian revenues, Ottawa said it would issue a new policy directive to the CRTC and instead directly provide the industry with $600 million in annual funding.

The CRTC has not yet implemented rules around discoverability. In a May decision, the regulator said online streamers will have to take steps to ensure Canadian and Indigenous content is available and visible to audiences, but that the details of those requirements would be determined at a later time.

Scott Shortliffe, the CRTC’s vice-president of broadcasting, said at the time the regulator wouldn’t impose “a system-wide series of requirements now” but would instead work with platforms individually to see how they’re fulfilling the principles the CRTC set out.

While Quebec passed a provincial law also dealing with discoverability in 2025, specific rules won’t come into effect until regulations are developed. There are also questions around whether Quebec will be able to implement such a law, given that the federal government has jurisdiction over broadcasting policy.

On Monday, the Bloc Québécois said the government should keep the Canadian content financial contributions in place, and also bring back the digital services tax on tech giants.

Both are policies the Liberals moved to eliminate after the United States identified them as trade irritants.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2026.