I realize I'm getting things a little mixed up, but I'd just like to respond as well, seeing as we're talking about getting reports back, on the new report on feature film policy. I've written down a couple of things so I'd have my thoughts straight, and if you don't mind I'll just share them with you.
The government is presently considering the two studies. It has done a series of proposed adjustments it would like to make to the policy to improve effectiveness. It's important that stakeholders in the industry have their chance to comment on these proposed adjustments to maximize their impact before they're made and before a government response to the standing committee report is made. The Department of Canadian Heritage must be allowed to complete its process with a final consultation with industry stakeholders this summer. A discussion paper will be released that will present the proposed adjustments to the policy and call for comments.
After this process, the department will be able to provide an enlightened government response to the standing committee's report. A revised Canadian feature film policy would then be ready in early 2007, bearing in mind that I'm suggesting that the first part--that is, something that would be enlightened by further response from the industry, being able to speak to the stakeholders over the summer--would be a more conclusive thing for the committee to consider.
If instead this committee is going to say, “Give us a response to this study that has been done, boom, that's it”, then we'll get that. But it won't be nearly as complete as it would be if the department has an opportunity to take more input from the stakeholders.
So this would really slow things down tremendously and complicate things and serve no useful purpose, in my judgment.