Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. The message we've delivered already--and I'm going to make it quite clear again--is that we need to see in the hearings, both for digital distribution and for the conventional distribution of programming, dedicated space for Canadian content, dramatic content being part of it, and we need to see minimum expenditures.

Canadian Heritage committee  The study we had done by Nordicity, which we published last week and which we would be happy to share with the full committee, shows that there is indeed profitability in Canadian programming. There is a long tail. The first runs of any television program do not make a profit, but they actually do when they play again on specialty, and on the main networks, and then again in new media.

Canadian Heritage committee  —have conditions. Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, certainly it's important to make a profit; we want these companies to be viable. Distributing American programs or foreign programs is fine. What we are against is the predominance in prime time--with CTV and Global being what is shown in blue here--of predominantly foreign programming and predominantly American programming.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you for your question. We would like to have the same advantage as Quebec artists have. In Quebec, there no competition for an audience with the American elephant that is beamed across the border. Do we see a solution? Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? We believe so.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm sorry: additional help in what way?

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. They're also using it as an excuse to claim that they need to divest themselves of Canadian content, which is our bigger problem.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, let's break this down: private broadcasters versus the CBC. First, with private broadcasting, we maintain that these broadcast distribution undertakings need to be viewed upon as grouped, as an entire operation, including the specialty channels. We have the figures that show the specialty channels are indeed making healthy profits.

Canadian Heritage committee  For conventional channels, our position is quite clear. We do not believe that, as such, the conventional channels need help. We want them to stop overspending on buying foreign programming. If indeed they can make a case that fee-for-carriage should be applied and they receive something from cable companies, we would say that would be very conditional.

Canadian Heritage committee  I will sum up. Canada has some of the most educated creative minds in the world. We have a diverse culture. We have the technological knowledge and the skilled workers to deliver some of the leading communication technology in the world. We're looking to you to help craft a 21st century vision that will bring all these elements together.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and committee members. My name is Richard Hardacre. I'm a professional actor. I'm the elected president of ACTRA. Also speaking for ACTRA today is one of our proudest members, our award-winning member and actor, Wendy Crewson. We're here as the voice of ACTRA's 21,000 members who live and work in every corner of this country.

Industry committee  Give them a chance to watch and let the audience grow. Leonard Asper is no good example. CanWest Global had a series as well, called Cold Squad.

Industry committee  From our point of view, there's a small influx. They're called co-production agreements. There are foreign productions that shoot in this country occasionally. Bollywood films, for example, are often done in the Mississauga-Toronto area because of the community that's available to them there for casting.

Industry committee  No. There are federal tax credits for service production, which is a lower percentage--service production tax credits, they're called--which is a lower percentage than for domestic production. I think the figures are not very high. Sorry, I don't have them at the tip of my tongue, but I think it's 11% and 13%.

Industry committee  They moved it around. In the second year it was on the air, they moved it around. Week by week you didn't know which night it was going to be on, and the audience left. Then they replaced it with an American show they got more cheaply, called Cold Case. It was actually a rip-off of the idea.