Why did the cftpa and the apftq choose an image from Margaret’s Museum as the poster and Living on the Edge as the title of this year’s biannual conference in Ottawa? Answers roam the expanse from the sensible to the esoteric but somewhere in between is something of significance. Something that says a bit more about the fears and hopes of Canadian producers than much of the discussion that went on at the conference.

Consider the evidence. The Mort Ransen film is something Canada can be proud of. It’s an international coproduction that features excellent performances including Helena Bonham Carter in the lead, it’s beautifully crafted and it tells a tale that is both universal and unquestionably Canadian. It’s also a bleak film and its heroine, born and raised in a small Cape Breton town, has little chance of escaping a doomed life that is overshadowed by the presence of the local mining industry. One could say, both figuratively and literally, she is living on the edge.

Now to the name of the conference. With a business that had an economic impact of $2.2 billion and created 60,000 jobs in 1995, there is apparently little connection between Margaret’s prospects and the future of Canadian film and tv. When one journalist attending the conference asked ‘Why ‘Living on the Edge’ with these sorts of figures?’, the response was about all the uncertainties facing the industry. A producer grumbled about the current unstable state of government protective measures and subsidies and the impending doom of even more American domination via new delivery systems (satellite, the Internet, etc).

The worrying that echoed through the conference rooms of the Ottawa Westin hotel has a villain and it’s probably the government cast in the mine owner’s role. It could be argued while it offers an essential service, it damns its dependents to an eternal and continually unpredictable cycle. To take it a step further, perhaps Margaret is the struggling independent producer, determined to get beyond the barriers but bound nonetheless by circumstance. The system in place produces some Cancon gems like Margaret, and the prospect of change is therefore alarming. At the same time there is the hard-earned knowledge that reliance on government support can be a stifling and dangerous dependency.

Producers confessed their fears, made repeated pleas for protective measures via the crtc and the federal government while parading their triumphs, reveling in their independence and their conquests (ie: Canada ranks second in the world in tv exports).

As they struggle to strike a balance in the culture/competition spectrum, the policy challenge is to leave enough leeway for both to co-exist.

Let’s hope they keep their sanity.