Amazon.com: Expanding our choices or a threat to our culture?
- March 10, 2010 11:25 AM |
- By POV
If Amazon.com Inc. is allowed to open a distribution centre in Canada, it will set a precedent for changing Canadian foreign ownership rules, the Canadian Booksellers' Association says.
"We believe there's a reason they're in place ... and we don't believe that reason has changed," group spokeswoman Susan Dayus said Tuesday of the foreign ownership rules governing the publishing industry.
A Canadian Heritage spokesman said the government has ordered a review of Amazon's proposal to open a Canadian distribution centre to determine if the investment "will be of net benefit to Canada."
Spokesman Tim Warmington said the proposal is reviewable under the Investment Canada Act, "if it falls within a prescribed specific type of business activity that is related to Canada's cultural heritage or national identity, and if the governor-in-council considers it in the public interest."
In 2002, the booksellers association failed in its attempt to block Amazon.ca from having an online presence in Canada. Ottawa ruled at the time that the Investment Canada Act didn't apply to Amazon.com as long as it had no bricks-and-mortar retail presence in Canada.
Read more:
Do you believe that Amazon.com's plan to set up a distribution centre in Canada will benefit Canadians or threaten our culture? Take our poll.
"We believe there's a reason they're in place ... and we don't believe that reason has changed," group spokeswoman Susan Dayus said Tuesday of the foreign ownership rules governing the publishing industry.
A Canadian Heritage spokesman said the government has ordered a review of Amazon's proposal to open a Canadian distribution centre to determine if the investment "will be of net benefit to Canada."
Spokesman Tim Warmington said the proposal is reviewable under the Investment Canada Act, "if it falls within a prescribed specific type of business activity that is related to Canada's cultural heritage or national identity, and if the governor-in-council considers it in the public interest."
In 2002, the booksellers association failed in its attempt to block Amazon.ca from having an online presence in Canada. Ottawa ruled at the time that the Investment Canada Act didn't apply to Amazon.com as long as it had no bricks-and-mortar retail presence in Canada.
Read more:
Do you believe that Amazon.com's plan to set up a distribution centre in Canada will benefit Canadians or threaten our culture? Take our poll.
(This poll is not scientific. It is based on readers' votes.)
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