Julianna Yau’s blog

The Canadian Conference of the Arts asks the CRTC to increase the funding available for Canadian programs

“Canada’s highly successful cable companies and specialty broadcasters should be required by the CRTC to spend more money to ensure Canadians have access to additional high quality Canadian programs and movies,” says Alain Pineau, National Director of the Canadian Conference on the Arts.

Pineau was speaking on the opening day of the three-week long hearing looking at how broadcasting distribution undertakings and discretionary programming services are regulated by the CRTC. Mr. Pineau continued, “CCA supports distributors paying a reasonable fee to carry over-the-air television stations, but only if the proceeds are used to create more and better quality Canadian shows, and are underpinned by enforceable licence conditions.”

In its submission, the CCA denounces the process used by the Commission over the past several months. The CCA expresses surprise that the CRTC introduced a reverse onus in this proceeding, asking those who support existing regulations to prove why they are necessary, rather then requiring those who favour change to provide evidence to show how deregulation would help to achieve the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. “We assume that the Dunbar-Leblanc Report, released by the Commission in September 2007, was to provide such evidence, but it did not,” continued Mr. Pineau. “Instead, it documented lots of opinions in favour of deregulation but had no evidence to support them.”

Mr. Pineau also objected to the constantly shifting parameters used by the Commission in this process. “Parties were given little time to respond to a shifting series of fundamental questions about how our broadcasting system functions. The process was detrimental to the public debate the CRTC is mandated to organize. As the custodian of the most important expression of cultural objectives in Canada, we expect the CRTC to play its role fairly for all participants, including public interest groups such as the CCA,” concluded Mr. Pineau.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is the national forum for the arts and cultural community in Canada. It provides research, analysis and consultations on public policies affecting the arts and the Canadian cultural institutions and industries. The CCA fosters informed public debate on policy issues and seeks to advance the cultural rights of Canadians.

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Ottawa, February 29, 2008 - The National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA), Alain Pineau, has issued a statement today asking why further regulations for the content of publicly funded films and television productions are necessary.

Mr. Pineau notes that the debate for now should be focused on the adequacy of existing controls already in place in Canadian law. The CCA will wait until all the details are available before commenting on the proposed changes and the manner in which the reported review panel will operate.

The Criminal Code already contains provisions that deal with pornography, child pornography, the promotion of hate, slander, libel, advocating crime and sundry other elements which have proved adequate in the past to deal with these offences.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court of Canada has issued rulings clarifying some of these activities such as pornography (Butler decision), child pornography (Robin Mitchell Sharp decision) , hate crimes (Zundel decision), etc. These decisions are steeped in rigorous research and prove how difficult it is to rush to judgment based on mere idiosyncratic and personal opinions.

The CCA is concerned that these “content tests” may be required by other funders of film and television productions, or for productions in other media, for example from publishers who produce controversial novels, poems or plays; from sound recording companies who produce music where lyrics are deemed objectionable, or other forms of artistic or cultural expression.

The CCA has asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Hon. Josée Verner, and her officials to proceed with extreme caution and prudence in effecting revisions to the manner in which such decisions are made. The letter recalls that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees freedom of expression, should be ardently and tirelessly defended by the Minister responsible for Canadian artistic and cultural expression.

The CCA will issue further commentary on this issue when the documentation is made available by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is the national forum for the arts and cultural community in Canada. It provides research, analysis and consultations on public policies affecting the arts and the Canadian cultural institutions and industries. The CCA fosters informed public debate on policy issues and seeks to advance the cultural rights of Canadians.

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