Canadian Heritage committee  No, but what would help is if we did not allow the studios to use their grandfathered status to pull these independent films, which are the bread and butter of our businesses that allow us to invest in Canadian films. By pulling those away from us—these ones that are the really choice films—it erodes our entire business model.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, no, because from what I understand, Canadian Heritage is saying that the policy is in place and will be enforced, but it won't be enforced at all against the studios. It's proprietary versus non-proprietary. If we had our choice, we would want the non-proprietary requirement to apply to the studios, so that it would say yes, it doesn't apply to studios, you're still allowed to be in Canada, but you can only distribute your own proprietary films.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, look, we would love to have legislation introduced to mirror what the films importation bill had tried to accomplish. We recognize that is an uphill climb. That's not an easy task for government. In the absence of that, we would want a more robust application and for the government to say that the intent of this policy was to allow the studios to distribute their proprietary films in Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'll be very quick. Thank you, though. I do have a tendency to go on and on. Our second policy initiative focuses on this changing landscape. In an era where increased ancillary exploitation such as digital and on-demand services are coupled with plateaued theatrical movie going, the film industry is facing major and complex challenges.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. I would like to thank the members of the committee for launching this review of the Canadian feature film industry. My name is Richard Rapkowski. I'm here today to represent the Canadian Association of Film Distributors and Exporters, otherwise known as CAFDE. CAFDE is a non-profit trade organization that serves to represent the Canadian film distribution industry and its members on matters of national interest.