Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 23rd, 2015

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Yes, that is very likely.

[Jean-François Bernier]

Actually, eOne is the largest independent distributor in the world. There are the major ones, and then there is eOne. There must be benefits for the Canadian products, but what about the disadvantages? I will let you check that with the producers.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

I would like to ask more questions so that our study is more thorough.

Twice in your answers, you said that some issues were more industry-related. Do you think we should look into that? For instance, post-production is industry-related. Do you feel that some of the Department of Industry policies directly apply to the Canadian film industry?

[Jean-François Bernier]

That is a good question, and I would be tempted to say no.

I am trying to think of some policies. Industry Canada has regional development agencies. This is connected to the question asked earlier about British Columbia. A few weeks ago, Western Economic Diversification Canada invested almost $1.2 million to help the industry out west take on foreign markets and all that.

The Canadian film industry has tools at its disposal, but there are no specific policies for it, the way there are for fisheries and telecommunications, for example.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

It was very interesting to hear about the agreements with the other countries. I honestly didn't think that they are as important since co-productions can sometimes develop naturally.

What is the benefit of having an agreement with, say, a country like India?

[Jean-François Bernier]

The benefit of an agreement is that it gives us access to the programs in other countries. The agreement does not have only privileges; it comes with certain obligations. For instance, a financial contribution of 20% is required for a France-Canada co-production. The Canadian producer or the French producer must provide at least 20% of the funding.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

We have about one minute left and Mr. Young wanted to get one question in.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I wonder if you could tell me if you have any concerns, and if so, what they are regarding corporations that are in the cable business, or in a completely different business, like telephony, controlling the art, controlling what films get on television or get broadcast on cable.

It's like the tail wagging the dog. Somebody comes up with an idea for a film or a TV show, and to get it to people, they need it to go on cable. They make so much money on cable, they have bought the art, so as I say it's the tail wagging the dog.

I think of some of the shows as I switch channels. There's a show about people who are over 600 pounds and there's a show about people riding around in a cab that lights up. There's just so much nonsense, but there are also excellent shows as well. Is that a concern to you, that we have corporations deciding what art we see in Canada, what we're exposed to? What can we do about it?

An example, of course, is that Bell owns CTV and The Globe and Mail.

[Jean-François Bernier]

Is it a concern? One could refer to those big corporations as “certain gatekeepers”. With technology, gatekeepers are under attack. There are other ways to get the content to people other than through CTV.

Honestly, these guys make creative programming choices, but productions—at least what we finance at Telefilm, the Canada Media Fund, or with the tax credit programs—the intermediaries, or the producer, or the distributor....It's not CTV that comes to claim a tax credit. It's an independent producer.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

So the system is working to a degree.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you. We're going to have to end on that note.

[Jean-François Bernier]

To a great degree the system is working.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you to our officials for coming today. We may have more questions and we may invite you back.

We are going to briefly suspend.

[Proceedings continue in camera]