Evidence of meeting #59 for Canadian Heritage in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbc.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
In theory, they could, but this is the responsibility of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
You say this is possible in theory, but is it happening in practice?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
No. I come back to the member's statement when she said that we were cutting back or reducing the number of wonderful, very successful shows, whereas it is the CBC's responsibility to present a national perspective, to show Canadians who we are and how we see things. It is unfortunate that this mandate is almost constantly being cut back.
I'm answering your question indirectly. We already have a network, a Crown corporation that is doing this work. So why would we hand that over to the independent networks?
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
In your opinion, the SRC/CBC is not completely fulfilling its creative and cultural mission. If you had to make specific recommendations to improve this situation, what would they be?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
We made suggestions in our presentation. Personally, I believe that the CBC has the mandate to anticipate this situation.
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
The whole issue of freedom of expression is at risk when producers and directors create programs on issues that might interest Canadians. They do so with a certain independence, whereas the people at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation do so with a corporate mindset that takes into account internal politics. There is markedly less independent thinking at that level.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
You said that independent producers were being asked to give away their broadcast rights on multiple platforms. The CBC is not the only one to say no to them: the private sector is doing the same thing.
What do you propose to bring about a fair agreement between the broadcasters and the independent producers on these platforms?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
You're asking me a very difficult question. The Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund is currently trying to draft a policy on this. It is not yet entirely clear in our minds. It is therefore difficult to propose something to others whereas we ourselves have not yet decided upon a specific measure.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
This is not a new debate. We would like to follow what is happening in the field. Could you keep us informed of new developments?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
We intend to hold a planning session in October to deal with this issue.
Conservative
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Thank you for a very interesting presentation this morning.
I'd like to ask you this at the beginning. What percentage of your projects would end up on television, on either the CBC or on a private network?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
If you phrased it another way, I would say 80% of them have financing from broadcasters from television. Probably because there are after-acquisitions, as opposed to pre-sales, I would say probably 90% end up on some form of television.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Do you have a breakdown between public and private broadcast?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
I don't with me, no, but I could get you one.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
All right. I think it would be very key to get a sense of that.
You had mentioned that CBC does not do any productions that involve CIDA. I wasn't aware that CIDA did documentaries, so I'm interested in this and why CBC would not be participating.
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
CIDA doesn't produce, if that's what you're saying.
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
They finance, just as we do. My understanding of the situation is that because the slot for them would be considered news, and because it wasn't balanced journalistically, giving both sides, they made a decision not to show them at CBC.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
One of the perspectives that has come out here is that we have our national broadcaster attempting to chase the ratings game in a losing battle and running after reality TV, or whatever else we have to compete with in order to get that. Meanwhile, we have an excellent set of resources for doing production. We have Telefilm. We have the CIFVF. We have the Canadian Television Fund. We have the National Film Board. The suggestion has been made that with all these resources we could fund one major public broadcaster, whether they distributed on the documentary channel or on their main channel. How would you feel about being brought in closer into the orbit of a national broadcaster for distribution of your products?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
Well, it certainly has an appeal. A producer's end objective is to get their product shown, so that certainly has an appeal.
I'm wondering about your question, though, when we have the CBC. Are you saying this because you think the CBC doesn't meet its mandate? I'm not quite sure.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
The issue, quite simply, is how much more money would we have to put into CBC in order to be able to carry out the mandate it has? Meanwhile, we are putting money into all these various funding envelopes that are producing great works, but a lot of that is not being shown on CBC. These were all structures that worked great in the 1970s. In 2007, should we be saying we are funding numerous projects all over the place, but they are part of one central broadcast system? Would you support that?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
Well, certainly. It reminds me of when Famous Players, I think it was, was for sale many years ago and there was discussion among the bureaucrats and other people on whether the government could buy it so that Canadian films would be shown in those cinemas. It sounds to me like a parallel kind of idea. It certainly has an attraction.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
I guess the question would be, if CBC were the main area where we look to bring these various funding envelopes for distribution, how would you see it being worked out with the fact that your call for more independent production--out-of-house CBC production--would then be bringing their product to CBC? You raised questions about the licensing agreements and the financial agreements that are being asked by CBC in order to get broadcast rights.
