Quebec government promises thorough review of digital media assistance

The Quebec government has almost completely adopted the recommendations of the Alliance numériQC in announcing a thorough review of assistance measures to the interactive digital content sector in the province. In its March 11 budget, the Parti Québécois government outlined a full review of its new media initiatives as part of a broader look at the province’s film and television industry. Alliance officials are pleased with the initiative that is expected to lead to greater harmonization among the government’s various programs. In a 104-page document filed with the latest budget, Politique Québécoise du cinéma et de la production audiovisuelle, the government outlines four specific measures related to interactive content. First, the government will initiate a review of programs going back 10 years related to the industry with the intention of drafting policies to govern the next five. Second, the government will create new benchmarks for the industry for the immediate and mid-terms. Those objectives haven’t yet been created, but would likely include goals in job creation, revenues, number of companies and the like. Third, the government will look at how it can facilitate public/private collaboration. Finally, the government has said it will look at ways to maintain and improve Quebec producers’ position in international markets. The review of the last 10 years has already begun in cooperation with the Alliance numériQC and is expected to take six months or so. No money was specifically allocated in the budget for the initiatives but Alliance officials stress that the reviews are now an official policy. Alliance director general Gilles Bertrand tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the industry and lobby group is pleased with the government’s direction. He says the review dovetails exactly with what the association has been asking for. "Right now," says Bertrand, "we’re really happy on this side. The answer was clear. We met with (Culture and Communications minister Diane) Lemieux and she was saying ‘we understand what the Alliance needs.’ Even though there might be some modification in the financing of many of the projects, we will be there with a new policy that will have all the industry." Bertrand says the review will cover all of the measures the Alliance has been pushing for, including reinstating the Programme d’aide à la production de titres multimédias, increasing the money available through the Fonds de l’autoroute de l’information program, and moving research and development tax credits for the sector under the umbrella of the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) (CNM, Oct. 3/02). The budget should also serve as reassurance for the Alliance, which was spooked last fall when Finance minister Pauline Marois made public comments interpreted to mean the government would reduce the aid it gave the interactive digital media sector (CNM, Nov. 14/02). Her remarks have since been clarified to apply specifically to the Cité Multimédia and similar initiatives. Bertrand notes in the wake of this budget that, "in the years to come, I think the money will be there. It will be less in cement than in brain-ware." He expects money spent on the Cité in the future is more likely to go toward content development, production and export. No hint, however, was given in the budget on action to implement the Alliance’s recommendation to spend $100 million on a new e-learning strategy. Last spring, the lobby group was pushing for a five-year package of government spending to help create homegrown e-learning content by assisting in its creation and to help schools buy made-in-Quebec product. Bertrand says there was no word on when or if the government would heed that call, but the Alliance remains hopeful.

Quebec government promises thorough review of digital media assistance

News | 03/21/2003 5:00 am EST

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