Altogether absent from Finance Minister Ernie Eves’ financial statement announced Nov. 29 were the ofdc, ofip and tvo. The ofdc and ofip remain frozen through March 31 and plans to review the tvo privatization process are imminent.
The oac has been slashed by 19% in fiscal 1996/97, added to the 10% cut it was handed this past summer.
Cuts or eliminations of funding to cultural agencies average 18% overall with savings of $5 million.
The government’s target for this fiscal year is $9.3 billion in savings.
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Production has stopped on three features Nelvana was developing under contract to Paramount Pictures – Thief of Always, Sign of the Seahorse and Trumpet of the Swan. Costs expended are recoverable from Paramount. In other news, Nelvana has acquired two new featurized series, Young Duke and The Attack of the Killer B Movies, for global dstribution.