The White House is disputing Prime Minister Mark Carney’s remarks about French language rights derailing trade talks, saying the issue was related to taxes on streaming services like Netflix.
Carney and Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, who along with other premiers were briefed on the trade talks by Carney, told reporters on Aug. 22 that trade talks with the United States collapsed last week partly because Washington was demanding changes to Canadian French-language protections, bilingual labelling, and content rules.
Carney said one of the main sticking points was American efforts to “restrict our protections of our language, our culture, and in effect, our sovereignty.” …