Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 15th, 2007

[Peter Moss]

Can I jump in with that? I was on the CTF board when this occurred, and there was a pretty specific and direct message to the CTF board from Heritage and from the BDUs at the time. I think it came from Charles Dalfen, who actually said, “I want to see a one-hour drama in prime time on air in Canada.” That was a specific request. It came down, and the CTF board were charged with pulling whatever levers they had to enable that to happen, and as a consequence, we're here.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

A short response, please.

[Pamela Brand]

I have just a very short comment.

In this whole issue between drama and children, our members work on both. I think the point here for this committee is to help save the CTF, and I think those other issues don't really belong here at this table.

Monique Lafontaine would like to add to some of the legal issues raised by you.

[Monique Lafontaine]

Very quickly, in terms of whether an issue exists as to whether the BDUs can indeed be required to contribute to programming.

I am not a tax lawyer, so I'm not going to go down the path of whether the commission has the authority to tax the BDUs. But at the end of the day, the CRTC has the authority to enforce and to implement the broadcasting policy. What it means is that all of the participants of the broadcasting system contribute to the cultural component.

The radio broadcasters have requirements to contribute to Canadian culture, and the TV broadcasters, the conventionals, the specialties, the pay-TV services. And the BDUs are not some special entity within the system that should be exempt from the requirements. It's a quid pro quo for having a licence. You get your licence, you get to make a lot of money, and you need to give back.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

The CRTC cannot tax?

[Monique Lafontaine]

Exactly.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you for that.

Seeing what the time is, we'll go to a two-minute question and answer, please. Mr. Masse, you're out of this round, so there will be one round in two minutes, please.

Ms. Keeper.

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank our witnesses as well. I apologize for being late. I was on the red-eye flight from Vancouver, and it was a bit delayed because of the weather, so I apologize. I really am sorry that I missed all the presentations, and I thank you for presenting here today. I'm really glad that you're here presenting as well on behalf of children's programming, because that has been a very successful area of production in Canada.

You talked about the shift in funding from children's programming to drama, a shift to drama. It is within the theme that we've heard around the squeeze on Canadian content and the challenges facing it, which speak to the very crisis that we're in.

I would like to follow up on the suggestion that this is a tax, and that there is maybe some sense that there's an option around this payment. You presented very clearly earlier that this will have impact, immediately and in the following fiscal years, on production. One of the suggestions we've heard from stakeholders is that there could be a contribution made by government, a loan made by government, to ensure that there is no dire impact. As of August 31 we will see that if we don't have any certain terms by that time, then at least we can support the industry.

Could I have your comments on that, please.

[Pamela Brand]

Do you want to speak to the tax issue, Monique?

[Monique Lafontaine]

As I just stated, the various components of the broadcasting system should be contributing to—

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Absolutely, and I'm aware it's part of the guideline that they make a contribution, but the suggestion that we have a loan from the government to ensure that these immediate and projected long-term impacts are not putting the industry in crisis—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We have to have a quick question. We're already over our time.

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

I would like a quick response on the idea of a loan.

[Monique Lafontaine]

As we said in our presentation, we do recommend that the government step up and perhaps borrow from next year's $100 million to fill the gap this year.

[Tina Keeper, Liberal, Churchill, MB]

Thank you. I am sorry I missed your presentations.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Ms. Bourgeois.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Ladies and gentlemen, earlier I asked you what, in your opinion, had really triggered the current crisis. Needless to say, the absence of any contributions from the two cable companies, which we do not agree with, by the way, was one of the triggers of the crisis. I would like to go further.

This crisis just didn't flare up yesterday. Could you also go back a little bit farther in time and explain what, in addition to the non-payment of the two cable companies, could have fueled this crisis? I would like you to give me your frank opinion.

[Pamela Brand]

I'm sorry. I'm going to speak in English as well. I apologize.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

That's fine.

[Maka Kotto, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

That is a reasonable accommodation.

[Pamela Brand]

I don't think any of us can actually explain to you why they stopped paying at this particular time. As you know, it's a long-standing issue. There has been reluctance from the BDUs for several years to pay into the CTF. They probably felt that it was a good strategy.

In January, Vidéotron did exactly what Shaw had done just before Christmas. They said they'd stop paying. There was strife in the industry, and there was a strike, so the timing was very good. The industry was already in upheaval. It was a good time to just hammer it in further and to start.... It was a good strategy.

Further than that, we can't really explain. Obviously they have said they have some issues, but governance issues are always going to be around in any organization. We see that in our own organizations. The fund itself is working very well as far as programming goes. Those are their issues. There should be a committee. There is a board of the CTF, and they can be ironed out.

So we can't really answer your question exactly the way you'd like. We don't know exactly how this happened. It is a long-standing issue, but it can be resolved.

[Peter Moss]

I also apologize. I'd like to answer your question not quite directly but indirectly.

I grew up in Montreal, one of the most beautiful and cultural cities in the world. When I grew up, in order to watch Peter Gunn and Dragnet on television, I had to watch them on a channel that came from Burlington, Vermont, or Plattsburgh, New York.

My generation of Montrealers, Anglo-Montrealers, grew up thinking that Plattsburgh was a better city than Montreal, and that things that came from Plattsburgh were better than things that came from Montreal. Can you believe that--swapping Plattsburgh for Montreal?

I think there is a generation of Canadians my age who still think things that come from away are better than things that come from and are made here. I think when people like BDU carriers say, “Canadians would rather see this”, that is a little bit of the mentality that drives that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

You can have one very quick question, and we have to stay within two minutes, here, Mr. Warkentin.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Well, thank you very much. I'll cross off a couple, then. I was going to start talking about new technologies and the impact they're going to have on the industry, because they're something that we as a committee have had some discussions about, and we know they will come into every discussion as we move forward.

Obviously we've seen just the movement of technological advances, and especially for young people. I have a six-month-old daughter. I know that her entertainment experience is going to be far different from my childhood entertainment experience. So we won't get into that discussion.

In terms of the short term, obviously we've discussed the optimism that you have, Ms. Brand, with the possibility of things coming together. We're hopeful that will happen.

In the longer term, Mr. Moss, you had some suggestions as to what the fund has to do to better serve the industry. Is there anything else we should know about? Obviously we're optimistic that things will come together. Looking beyond that, are there any further suggestions you would make as to what the fund might do to be better able to serve not only you as organizations but the emerging technologies, possibly, that are obviously going to continue to move forward?