Finance committee  Congratulations.

Finance committee  In 1999, with the change in CRTC regulations, our broadcasters were freed from Canadian content and from minimum spending on drama. Unfortunately, they are now buying a dumped product at a few cents on the dollar from our American friends south of the border. Since 1999, when the

Finance committee  I have no idea what would motivate CBC not to buy. That would be some internal matter, I presume. What I'm primarily talking about with the CTF is dramatic production. In a country where the airwaves are saturated by imported product, it's very difficult to get up above that le

Finance committee  I'm not sure what amount of her income is taxed in Canada and paid in Canada. I would suggest probably not a lot right now.

Finance committee  Absolutely. Regrettably, I'm no longer with Fido.

Finance committee  When you talk about the creation of jobs, you're talking about industrial models, you're talking about the larger society, correct? I think the mechanisms are in place to support that kind of creation. I'm not an expert in that area; I'm a working actor, and I'm not even an exper

Finance committee  It is. All actors in this country are small-business persons. We're entrepreneurs.

Finance committee  My personal preference would be the Irish model where artists don't pay taxes, because their contribution is—

Finance committee  —deemed to be....

Finance committee  No, we're not recommending that. We're talking about a $25,000-a-year floor.

Finance committee  Yes, but my personal preference would be for a higher level.

Finance committee  Thank you. Basically, the CTF has been in place for 10 years. It was created at the level of $100 million, and it has stayed at that level for 10 years. Just doing the math on dollar value over that 10 years, we calculate we're down to about $80.3 million. So to at least bring

Finance committee  Members of ACTRA of course work. That they are also members of other associations, like the Actors' Equity Association and the Association des professionnels des arts de la scène du Québec. So when I talk about my “parish”—ACTRA—I mean Canada's English-language media. That means

Finance committee  Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Good morning to you and to the honourable members of the committee. My name is Barry Blake. I'm a working Canadian actor, inasmuch as that means anything these days, and I'm also here on behalf of ACTRA. I'm a national councillor of ACTRA, the A