The Fund to Assist Canadian Talent on Record (FACTOR) and its French counterpart MusicAction are established by the Canadian Independent Record Production Association (CIRPA), the Canadian Music Publishers Association (CMPA) and several private broadcasters to channel money into the Canadian music industry.

The Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee (the Applebaum-Hébert Committee) issues its report which recommends a shift of economic priorities away from public broadcasting and suggests that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) exist as an "alternative to private broadcasters." It argues that the CBC should stop selling commercial airtime and turn over its production facilities to the private sector.

A broadcasting strategy for Canada is outlined in the Department of Communications (DOC) paper entitled Towards a New National Broadcasting Policy. The paper recommends:

• that Canadian broadcasting systems be maintained as a vehicle for the promotion of social and cultural policy objectives
  
  
• that an increased core of Canadian programming be made available by focusing on production in the private sector

The federal government announces the Broadcast Program Development Fund in response to the 1983 Department of Communications Policy Paper. The fund is administered by the Canadian Film Development Corporation which is renamed Telefilm Canada. The fund is to provide resources to Canadian producers to create high-quality, culturally relevant programming.

The federal government introduces the Northern Native Broadcast Access Program in order to counterbalance the predominance of English and French programming on the airwaves in Canada's Native communities.

The Department of Communications issues a National Film and Video Policy which proposes to change the role of the National Film Board in light of the recommendations made by the 1982 Applebaum-Hébert Committee.

As part of the proposed changes the NFB would act as a "training centre" and channel its resources into film and video research and development. The NFB would also be required to focus on developing private sector Canadian film and video industries.

While the NFB rejected the proposal that it channel its resources into research and development, it accepted its new role as a training centre and agreed to refocus its efforts on developing partnerships with the private film production sector.

The Canadian government implements the Baie-Comeau Policy on foreign investment in the Canadian publishing industry through the Investment Canada Act. The policy requires that a Canadian book publishing company bought by a foreign investor must be divested (sold) to a Canadian company after two years.

The Department of Communications Task Force on Broadcasting Policy releases the Caplan-Sauvageau Report. The Report endorses public broadcasting, especially the CBC, as the pillar of Canadian culture. It also proposes a series of taxes and funding to strengthen Canadian content production.

The Task Force on the Status of the Artist, releases the Siren-Gelinas Report. The Report recommends changes to income tax legislation to offer more financial security to artists, changes to copyright rules to better compensate artists for their work, and the granting of special rights to artists to promote "artistic expression."

The Sound Recording Development Program is established by the Canadian government. The program channels money to the Fund to Assist Canadian Talent on Record (FACTOR) and its French counterpart MusicAction, which were formed in 1982 to provide funding for the music industry in Canada.

The Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) is established to replace the Canadian Book Publishing Development Program (1979). The new program is designed to "promote Canadian publishers in Canada and around the world" through the "strategic support" of publishing companies.

As part of the National Film and Video Policy (1984), the Feature Film Fund is introduced to complement the 1983 Broadcast Program Development Fund. The new fund, administered by Telefilm Canada, is intended to promote the "production and distribution of high quality films with a high level of Canadian content."

The federal government introduces new foreign investment guidelines in the film and video distribution sector. The guidelines require any new foreign distributor to handle only those films to which they hold worldwide distribution rights or in which they have invested more than 50 per cent of the production costs.

The federal government ratifies the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. Article 2005, Paragraph 1 (the culture clause) gives Canada the right to exempt its cultural products from the Agreement. However, the United States is permitted under the terms of Article 2005, Paragraph 2, to use "measures of equal effect" against other trade sectors if they are harmed by Canadian actions to protect their cultural industries.

In response to the recommendations made by the 1982 Applebaum-Hébert Committee, the Copyright Act is amended. As part of the changes computer programs are explicitly covered by copyright laws and criminal penalties for copyright infringement are increased.

The Northern Distribution Program (NDP) is approved to fund the development of Northern and Aboriginal programming. Television Northern Canada (TVNC) is the sole recipient of funds under this program, whose goals are to:

• promote and encourage the development and use of aboriginal languages through modern technological means
  
  
• provide television programming which reflects and enhances the social, political, economical and cultural life of all northern and native residents

The Broadcast Program Development Fund, created in 1983 and administered by Telefilm Canada, is established on a permanent basis.

The federal government reduces the budget for the postal subsidy by 50 per cent. The subsidy has been a key program for promoting Canada's publishing industries by subsidizing the delivery of Canadian periodicals by Canada Post since the late 1800s.

The Copyright Act is amended in order to comply with the 1988 Free Trade Agreement. As part of the amendments, cable and satellite companies are required to pay for the re-transmission of works included in distant broadcast signals.