NDP pledges to redefine CRTC mandate, strengthen film & TV production

The NDP is positioning itself as the champion of Canadian culture, pledging to strengthen the CRTC’s ability to promote home-grown television and provide sustained funding for television and film production. The NDP’s newly released election platform also calls for tougher licence requirements on broadcasters, cable, and satellite TV companies. The NDP is clearly hoping to sway voters, particularly those in Quebec, who are upset over the Conservative’s promised cuts to several cultural initiatives, including Trade Routes ($9 million), the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund ($1.5 million), the National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector ($2.5 million) and PromArt ($$.7 million). There is also wide speculation that the federal government may not renew the $14.5 million Canada New Media Fund when its current contract expires on March 31, 2009. The NDP’s 46-page election platform includes 19 recommendations specific to the arts and cultural sectors, although the details are slim. Among the recommendations: that the mandate of the CRTC be redefined to better promote and protect Canadian culture, and to transfer mandates that don’t to other agencies, possibly consumer-based ones. It also calls for clear, binding, and enforced performance standards for broadcasting, including more Canadian drama, “backed by broadcast, cable and satellite license requirements.” And for Quebec voters, the NDP says it will enhance the role of the CRTC in Montreal “so that it better reflects the cultural and linguistic reality of programming for Quebec and the francophone community.” Charlie Angus, NDP culture critic, says reforming the role and structure of the CRTC is necessary to boost confidence among television producers and to reverse a sidelining of Canadian content which he says has been in the works for nearly a decade. In an interview with Canadian Communications Reports, Angus says that while the CRTC has an important balancing act to perform, its policies should not be at the expense of the broadcast industry. He says there have been problems with the CRTC’s structure since 1999, following a change in the definition of Canadian content when “we saw Canadian television virtually disappear off the airwaves.” “They have completely dropped the ball on Canadian programming and totally undermined what was for a very long period of time, a very robust Canadian television industry.” The NDP platform also contains issues long championed by the NDP, including sustained funding for the Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada, and the CBC, as well as maintaining limits on foreign ownership of Canadian television and telecommunications companies. Angus argues that, as a result of the sweeping industry convergence over the past 15 years, it’s important that such industries remain in Canadian hands. “The same people who are selling you your cable are the same ones selling you the newspaper and television services. The right-wing mantra of the Conservatives is, ‘we need more foreign investment in our telecommunications, but the problem is telecommunications also cover broadcast,” he says, adding that it will be impossible to maintain Canadian content if U.S conglomerates “swallow” up the industry. Angus adds that it’s a myth that Canada needs more foreign investment in its telecommunications industry to be competitive since the industry is doing quite well. The NDP platform also promises to reverse Bill C-10, which contains provisions that will bar film producers from claiming tax credits for any film the government rules not to be in the public interest. Angus says the bill is “a death knell” for producers. Critics of the bill contend the definition of public interest is vague and the government will use the legislation for partisan purposes. In addition, the NDP says it will set targets and a strategy to expand screening and distribution of domestic films in Canada, as has been done in Quebec, which has a 25% target. “We have great films that are screened once and never seen again,” says Angus, adding that a 10% target sounds reasonable, citing the difficulties such a move will encounter in the English market. Quebec, he says, can afford its ambitious 25% target because its market is largely insulated from American films because of the language barrier. Achieving the 10% target, he says, can be done through introducing mandatory trailers in Canadian produced films, working closely with the CBC to promote films and additional funding to Telefilm Canada as well as introducing more film tax credits. Other highlights of the platform - Enhance federal film incentives to encourage film and television production. - Expand the federal tax credit to include the cost of post-production. -Exclude provincial tax credit increases from the federal government’s calculation of film support payments. - Develop a digital online culture service to expand access to Canadian content. - Invest in a pan-Canadian broadband strategy. - Implement net neutrality

NDP pledges to redefine CRTC mandate, strengthen film & TV production

News | 10/01/2008 5:47 pm EDT

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