Politics & Power Quote by Scott Speedman

Speedman’s line lands with the casual honesty of someone describing the weather, but it quietly sketches a whole cultural economy. “I think” is doing protective work up front: a softener that signals he’s not trying to start a nationalist argument, just naming an obvious power dynamic. Then “still” slips in like a sigh. It implies history and inertia, a relationship that’s matured but hasn’t fundamentally changed. Canada’s screen business, in his telling, remains tethered to the larger U.S. machine.

The phrasing matters. He doesn’t say Canada lacks an industry; he says it’s “based in” America’s. That’s a loaded spatial metaphor: Canada as an annex, a backlot, a supportive infrastructure. Anyone who’s watched Vancouver or Toronto stand in for Seattle or New York hears the subtext immediately. The Canadian industry has often thrived by being useful to Hollywood: tax incentives, crews, locations, and a pipeline of talent that gets “validated” once it crosses the border.

As an actor, Speedman’s perspective is also self-revealing. It hints at the career calculus Canadians learn early: local work can be formative, but the gravitational pull of American studios, agents, and audiences shapes what counts as “making it.” The comment isn’t self-pitying; it’s pragmatic. In a media landscape where financing, distribution, and cultural prestige concentrate in the U.S., “somewhat” reads less like hedging than politeness - a Canadian courtesy masking a blunt truth about dependence.