An interesting mix gathered for the Canadian Film Institute’s Canadian Film and Television seminar, ‘New challenges and new opportunities in a changing environment,’ on March 4, with Telefilm’s Bill House, the ofdc’s Alex Raffe, the cpf’s Bill Mustos and Baton Broadcasting System’s Suzanne Steeves manning the forum discussing broadcasters access to public funds.

According to Raffe, being a part of a specialty channel isn’t the same as having a major broadcasting entity but she adds there needs to be a gauge of when very lucrative production companies with access to public funds should find themselves graduated.

‘At some point we have to look at whether we’re unfairly advantaging the independent producer/broadcaster and ask what are the reasons for the funds. If the reason is national identity and Canadian culture, then it’s one set of actions; if it’s industrial, it’s another; if it’s about jobs and taxes, then it’s another.’

Steeves made the point that with the current rules in place, an independent producer comes to an agency with a project he or she is proposing to distribute worldwide, that’s synergy. But if a producer affiliated with a broadcaster proposes funding for a project to be aired on its stations, that’s self dealing.

‘Where is the policy rationale here? We are hiring the same talent, the same crews, the same caterers. We do not rely on off-shore tax havens in our financing structures. We pay all our taxes in Canada.’

Looking at the fiscal year ahead for the cpf, Mustos predicts that the addition of new specialty licences plus a greater comfort level with the fund’s processes will lead to broadcasters maximizing between 10% and 15% of their available envelope, one-third of the total fund, versus the less than 1% tapped this year.