Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and members of the committee.
We thank you for giving us the opportunity to appear before you today.
I'm Pamela Brand, the executive director for the Directors Guild of Canada.
I will beg your indulgence, because I'm fighting a very bad sore throat. I'll try not to get too hoarse.
You've probably read in the written submission we made in September that the Directors Guild represents almost 4,000 creative and logistical personnel in the film and television industry across Canada. We also have more than forty years of experience in contributing to film and television policy in Canada. It's not me who has being doing that for forty years; it's the guild.
I would like to take these few moments to highlight one of the key messages from our written brief, and that is that the film and television sector contributes significantly to Canada's competitiveness, economic prosperity, technological development, cultural strength, and social cohesiveness. Providing stable, long-term support for Canada's audiovisual sector helps fulfil multiple national objectives. It is an efficient and effective use of public resources, and it is also sound public policy.
Due to the economic realities of film and television production in Canada and around the world, building and maintaining a viable film and television production sector in Canada has required an integrated set of policy instruments, including financing and tax measures. The Directors Guild brief recommends that the upcoming budget ensure that the existing support structures for film and television production are maintained. In particular, the entire audiovisual industry would be very pleased to see this committee recommend stable A-based funding for the Canadian Television Fund, at least at its current level of $100 million per year.
Along with Telefilm Canada, the CTF is a critical program in supporting Canadian production, because its contributions leverage significant additional production funding. For example, the $100 million federal contribution to the Canadian Television Fund joined with contributions from the cable and satellite industries that triggered total production worth $841 million in the 2004-05 year.
A permanent A-based funding allocation for the fund would bring much greater stability to the industry. It would allow the production community and the Canadian Television Fund to better plan and make commitments to Canadian productions, and it will give further funding sources confidence that projects and partnerships will be viable over the long term.
In the recent past, this committee's pre-budget report has recommended stable, longer-term funding for the Canadian Television Fund and Telefilm Canada; a funding increase for the CBC, Canada's public broadcaster; and an increase in the rate of the Canadian production tax credit. The Directors Guild hopes this finance committee will once again recommend that these important measures to support our indigenous film and television industry will be made for this upcoming budget.
We also hope that the committee will recommend renewed funding of the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Diversity as it continues its work towards the global ratification and implementation of the UNESCO convention on the protection and promotion of cultural diversity in cultural expression. Canada has been a leader in the creation of this important international agreement. With the unanimous support of Canada's Parliament, it was the first country to ratify it.
We appreciate this opportunity to appear before you. We are pleased to answer questions.
Thank you.