Okay, I'm sorry.
Evidence of meeting #44 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ontario.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #44 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ontario.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, Writers Guild of Canada
I thought I heard that. I heard CMF access, I heard these things.
I guess the point of this is we also employ hundreds of thousands of people. They don't just work for eight months. They work for eight months, and then they start a new job. Again, we're not here just to talk about writers. We're here to talk about the principle of investing in a Canadian talent pool. I understand that you're going to have short-term needs that have to be met from outside the country, but again, I firmly believe that we have every ability to train Canadians to do these great jobs.
5:10 p.m.
A voice
I do, too.
5:15 p.m.
Chairman of the Board, Alliance numérique
On our last game we had a team of maybe four full-time writers out of 135. That gives you the percentage of writers on a game. EIghty per cent of the writers were from Canada. You want to put the right people in the right place. In business, you need to deal with two strong things: offer and demand. Excuse me, but why would I go outside Canada? If there was one qualified person in Canada, why would I go outside Canada? Please, somebody, explain that to me. If I invest in my human resources to go outside, it's because we've looked internally. Please give us a break on that. If there's somebody from B.C., Ontario, the Maritimes, obviously we'll take them. For us that person, that great talent, will be available in a matter of days, weeks, months maybe. If I need to go outside, I need to go for good reasons.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Moore
Mr. Brown, your time is up.
Just so people know, we do have votes that are scheduled. Bells are supposed to go off any minute now. They haven't started yet, but when they do start, we'll have to wrap up immediately. In the meantime, Mr. Dubé, we have a bit more time.
October 30th, 2012 / 5:15 p.m.
NDP
Matthew Dubé NDP Chambly—Borduas, QC
Thank you very much. One senses that time is of the essence.
In the context of this discussion, which is a kind of round table, as Mr. Simms said, I would like to say that this goes beyond any specific role. I do not want to suggest there is too great a similarity between the design of a video game and the field of television or film, but there is a similarity in that an increasing amount of teamwork is involved. It was noted on the cover of this week's L'actualité magazine that a BA in history could help contribute to a video game. The game Assassin's Creed was cited as an example, of course.
Going back to the mistake Mr. Nantel made earlier regarding ACTRA, in fact, in that case as well, that concerned the importance of motion capture, which increasingly involves the contribution of actors. We are talking about screenwriters and history consultants. Even in war games, people with a military background are consulted.
When a business is established in a community, it hopes that people from the surrounding area can make that kind contribution. That is the case in Montreal, but I am less familiar with the situation in other cities.
How does it help you when those people—
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Moore
I'm sorry, Mr. Dubé, but you didn't quite get your question in on time. The bells are ringing.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
Scott Simms Liberal Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL
I would like to talk about this. I don't know if it's a point of order, but call it what you wish.
This is not workable, quite frankly. We have a round table here with an incredibly good discussion, and we're being cut off at five minutes. It's not working, quite frankly. I want to do this now in public because I think we need to change this. We could lengthen the time limits. The fact is it's no longer question and answer; it's now discussion. Normally, we would break the group up—
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rob Moore
Mr. Simms, the time limits are what we agreed to as a committee. We can discuss that in the subcommittee, and we can change our standing orders.
In the meantime, I want to thank our witnesses for being here today.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
5:15 p.m.
Conservative