Canadian Heritage committee  I think the answer is a definite yes to the idea of regional funding for development. Again, just to highlight the documentary difference, it might look more like putting money to develop an idea and do a test shoot. I'm going to Nicaragua in two weeks, for example, and bringing down a seasoned crew.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's a great question. It's changed slightly. And again, I'm speaking somewhat from personal experience. Certainly in the past, our organization has had a very good relationship with CBC. We've been talking about.... Again, that's when the documentary tradition was perhaps more visible on the network.

Canadian Heritage committee  Just to follow up on that, it's slightly out of my portfolio, as it were, but there was an interesting suggestion that you may have heard before. It was made by a local actor here. It was that one thing that would really work is having something like a half-hour slot in time for each province, or territory in the case of CBC North, an amount of time available for new programming that's locally developed, locally produced, and locally done.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely, it's a dialogue that could go on. At the same time, it's not to the exclusion of keeping a documentary presence of some kind on the main network. You can do interesting cross-pollinations. Maybe it's the best of The Documentary Channel on one dedicated night a week, that kind of thing.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can speak to that. When you say you've heard nothing about the documentary channel, are you referring to...?

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. Actually, if you speak to some people at The Documentary Channel itself, they would tell you that they don't know what's happening at this point, because of all the negotiations, etc. All I can say as an independent filmmaker is that they've been one of our greatest allies.

Canadian Heritage committee  I have just a small follow-up in terms of new platforms and new media. The CBC had a terrific program, called Zed, which was on a couple of years ago. Nobody really knew what it was, at the end of the day, but it was designed to be some kind of way to interact with the new audience and established audiences by having it both on the Internet and on television.

Canadian Heritage committee  When it comes to the CBC in particular, I don't even want to say it's a moving target. We're in a situation now where we're dealing either with very small budgets made by emerging filmmakers, with a program such as The Lens, or very high-budget one-offs or a small-series situation, some of which is done in-house, such as Canada: A People's History or Hockey: A People's History, and that kind of thing.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can just speak as an independent. What looks to be happening is that obviously the CBC seems to be coming up with certain model structures or concepts, which they will then hire independent filmmakers for. In some cases, that becomes a de facto independent production. The key is, ideally from our perspective you want to have the stories coming from the independents and brought to the CBC rather than the other way around—rather than somebody coming up with a concept and hiring out for a filmmaker.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's right, exactly.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't think so; I think it's pretty accurate. Obviously we also want to look at ways we can work with other countries, and there have been quite a few co-productions through Newfoundland. But in terms of what's going to keep the infrastructure alive on a regular basis, as something you can count on, something that will develop, and something that will take the needed time to develop projects--in particular regarding documentaries, but also fiction--the CBC provides the continuity and the source.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman, mesdames et messieurs, for the opportunity to present to this committee. My name is Bart Simpson, believe it or not--it could be worse—and I'm with the Newfoundland and Labrador chapter of the Documentary Organisation of Canada. I'm also the immediate past national chair of the organization.