Evidence of meeting #46 for Canadian Heritage in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was television.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:10 p.m.
Conservative
Rick Dykstra Conservative St. Catharines, ON
Thank you.
André, you mentioned co-production as being an effective way of avoiding duplicate costs. I wonder if you could expand on that a little bit, because obviously, it's not just coming to the table and seeking further funds, but actually coming to the table and making recommendations that could move taxpayers' funds further than they are currently being used.
5:10 p.m.
Vice President, Creation & International Development, QMI Content, Quebecor Media Inc.
Exactly. As I alluded to just now, the experiences in television can be transposed to feature films all over the world. Perhaps it cannot be done every time, but I feel that strategic partnerships ahead of the game, for example between the chains or the financing groups, may well bring about an increase in the relevance and quality of what is being done. It can be done while still preserving our ability to tell our own stories. I agree with what Mr. Nantel said about that. I applaud the CRTC's initiative, which is steadfastly focused on Canadian and foreign markets equally.
The experience of big-budget series is worth considering. It goes hand in hand with what we are currently seeing in terms of the collaboration and partnership between players from different countries. The feature film industry has some experience because it was the first to try co-production agreements. We can evaluate how effective they were and, if necessary, we can update them in order to encourage more collaboration and partnership with those foreign players.
5:15 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gord Brown
That will be the last word.
I want to thank our witnesses for coming. You will be our last witnesses in this study. If you have any other contributions you would like to make, please get them to us in the next day or two. Once again, thank you for joining us today.
We will briefly suspend to go in camera to do some committee business.
[Proceedings continue in camera]