Alliance numériQC decries “alarming” cuts to multimedia assistance in Quebec budget

The provincial budget handed down June 12 by the newly installed Liberal government in Quebec would reverse many of the gains achieved by the new media industry in the province, dispensing with the protection of generous government measures created and championed by the defeated Parti Québécois. The province’s main multimedia industry association, the Alliance numériQC, is still struggling to understand the budget’s ramifications even as it joins a new coalition of cultural groups opposing Finance minister Yves Séguin’s cutbacks. Calling many of the budget measures "alarming," Alliance president Suzanne Guèvremont tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the multimedia sector stands to be harder hit than its film and television counterpart since the industry hasn’t been designated as cultural. As a result, it faces a full 25% cutback in programs compared to the 12.5% hit to the province’s film and television production sector. For example, Guèvremont says tax credits for the development of multimedia titles will only be funded at three-quarters of what was announced on March 11 by then-minister of Finance Pauline Marois in the PQ budget. Had the government chosen to treat multimedia the same as film or television, the cutback would only have been half as severe. Guèvremont says the measure is misguided since new media products touch on a raft of cultural enterprises. "This is bad because if you think of a multimedia site, a web site for children, let’s say, or a CD-ROM…there are cultural implications. When we talk about multimedia, about 65% of the workforce is not technological. You’ll have writers, designers. You’ll have all these other fields of work that are related to culture. Since our industry as multimedia is not recognized as such, it will have ramifications on everything else that touches on multimedia." She says educational and other cultural titles, for example, could be more difficult to produce. "If we don’t want to be submerged with productions from other francophone countries or the United States, well, we need to be able to position ourselves. Having a cutback of 25% is alarming." Besides the 25% reduction in tax credit aid to the sector, the Liberals have also slashed assistance to research and development by 12.5%, something Guèvremont says will be particularly difficult for the small companies that make up the province’s multimedia industry. Another measure to which the Alliance objects is the end of assistance to companies that take up residence in designated facilities such as the Cité multimedia, though existing lease arrangements have been grandfathered. "This is a point that’s difficult for our industry because we’re based on a lot of small companies and these small companies continue to need encouragement for their development and our industry’s position on a worldwide competition basis," she notes. "It’s one thing to invest in cement and build buildings and make sure that companies have a place. Cutting back in investment in cement is one thing, but that is not the issue. The issue is more cutting back on subsidies directly to the companies for them to be able to develop and hire people and make their way in this industry." While the budget measures are an apparent indication of a 180-degree turn in the formerly paternalistic province’s assistance to the sector, Guèvremont says it’s too early to tell whether that change in attitude is permanent. The Alliance is still arranging meetings with top government officials in charge of crafting policy for the industry. The Alliance has also just joined a new coalition of cultural groups to lobby against the changes, though the umbrella organization is still in the early stages of drafting a response to the Liberal budget. "There’s a lot of unanswered questions," Guèvremont says, "and we need to know exactly what to expect and how to react according to the various answers we get."

Alliance numériQC decries “alarming” cuts to multimedia assistance in Quebec budget

Broadcast | June 25, 2003

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