Since 2006, our costs have gone up and the production budgets of our foreign competitors have skyrocketed. With more funding at its disposal, Telefilm Canada would be better equipped to fund Canadian film production. We firmly believe that the roughly $10 million cut from Telefilm Canada's budget should be restored.
In order to promote Canadian films and make them accessible to audiences on all platforms, the government must adapt how it approaches the availability, accessibility, development and promotion of Canadian films to accommodate new industry realities. To that end, we recommend that the advisory group on feature film—which brings together stakeholders from across the industry—be mandated to review the new industry landscape in order to provide appropriate recommendations to Telefilm Canada. In the document we submitted to the clerk, you will find some suggested issues for the advisory group's consideration.
In conclusion, I'd like to leave you with some food for thought, a few considerations for the audiovisual industry that would have a significant impact on film and television production in Canada.
First of all, should foreign groups that make content available on websites with domain names ending in ".ca" be charged GST, companies such as Netflix and iTunes? Currently, foreign content has an advantage over Canadian content, when it comes to availability.
Second of all, should Internet service providers and wireless providers, who are largely responsible for transmitting film and television content, be charged some sort of royalty? This revenue could be used to help fund Canadian audiovisual production tailored to the new viewing habits of Canadians.
Thank you. We would now be happy to answer any questions you have.