Finance committee  Transparency is how we all live. You need to know how things are funded, how things work, the return on investment, and who's watching what. I think that is all intriguing information. The CBC has had a pretty rough go in the last while. They haven't had much stability in their funding.

Finance committee  Well, $1.1 billion is good.

Finance committee  I made a mistake.

Finance committee  I think we don't want to rely only on government funding; we're trying to be more creative about how we incent private investment in content creation. That's why there's this new idea about what if you could get a tax credit for having something on the Canadian website, or what would it be if you expanded the actual tax credit in the production services tax credit or something.

Finance committee  We think you should have a higher per capita tax. Rather than paying $33 per head, go up to $40. The CBC has been certainly in some ways starved of serious and cogent investment, and they're really poised to do some incredible work in terms of the digital portals they're building--incredible work for all of Canada.

Finance committee  I would say production, in that it is a very collaborative form. It's probably the most collaborative form that exists, and we share a border with the gigantic entertainment industry to the south. Production is where the actual work opportunity and the job creation is. It's where we meet.

Finance committee  All the distribution platforms are fantastic, whether I watch a show on my phone or the iPad or my television or my computer. You still have to have the content created to be seen on all those multiple platforms. I think we're lacking a cogent digital economy strategy in relation to content creation.

Finance committee  It's a very first step, but there is nothing wrong with that, no.

Finance committee  Exactly.

Finance committee  Thank you. There is just so much work we still have to do, because it's all about planning forward and making a strategic plan so that we can all work together to figure out the path through the forest. We want to be in a healthy, productive place where we have lots of Canadian content available in Canada and for export.

Finance committee  There are a lot of Canadian jobs at stake. Hear, hear.

Finance committee  In conventional television right now through the CMF we have the first steady platform in a long time. Everything has come together to make wonderful Canadian shows, and they are being exported. We are still lacking a strategy and sufficient incentive in the digital economy.

Finance committee  It is fabulous quality being produced right now. Is that your question?

Finance committee  Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Ferne Downey. I'm a professional actor and the national president of ACTRA, Alliance of Canadian Cinema,Television and Radio Artists. It's a great honour to be here today as the voice of 22,000 professional performers whose work entertains, educates, and informs audiences in Canada and around the world.

Bill C-32 (40th Parliament, 3rd Session) committee  We don't know what creators have done to have such a loss of remuneration that currently flows. We always try to paint the picture very carefully that artists in Canada are very modestly remunerated, but your work has value and copies of your work have value. That's the only thing we have: what we create and what we make.