Vancouver: The b.c. government is on the attack against the federal government’s paper called The Road to Success: The Report of the Feature Film Advisory Committee that was tabled in January.

The federal report, among other suggestions, recommends the creation of a $150-million fund for Canadian film – a new fund that might be created at the expense of the $55-million federal production services tax that serves as a strong incentive for b.c.’s service production industry.

On May 19, b.c. Culture Minister Ian Waddell presented a rebuttal report written by his Working Group on Film & Television: British Columbia Film chair Michael Francis and filmmakers Chris Haddock and Anne Wheeler.

In its response, the b.c. group made seven recommendations, including that:

* the federal production services tax credit remain unchanged;

* money not be taken from the budgets of cbc and Telefilm Canada to create a new fund;

* funding not be tied solely to Canadian distributors; and,

* the federal government should encourage growth in the two main English-language centres (being Vancouver and Toronto).

Waddell, who has been eager to wade into the political waters of federal and provincial film policy, says the federal report ignores the unique film economy in b.c.

For example, dismantling the federal tax credit, he maintains, would impair the thriving service production sector in b.c. and undermine the 25,000 jobs the West Coast industry supports. Furthermore, he contends, scrapping the federal tax credit would only benefit Ontario-based producers and distributors.

Waddell said: ‘It’s time the federal government realized that the film industry in the West is as important as that in Central Canada. Alliance Atlantis has the lion’s share of federal funding. That has to change.’

However, Tom Rowe – who is the b.c. delegate on the federal committee – suggests that the b.c. minister is complaining about nothing.

Rowe strenuously denies that the report was intended to favor one region over the next. ‘The proposal intends funding to be spread across Canada and not be focused on Ontario,’ he says.

Rowe adds that even the federal committee believes the federal tax credit is safe. ‘Personally, I spoke out against the elimination of the federal production services tax credit,’ he says. ‘But the recommendations are intended to promote discussion.’

Nonetheless, the provincial rebuttal report has been tabled. The b.c. group concludes: ‘We agree with the objectives of the report of the federal Feature Film Advisory Committee, but strongly believe that public policy should support the diversification of the Canadian feature film industry in its two English-language production centers – Vancouver and Toronto. With the industry anchored in the west and east by two dynamic infrastructures the Canadian feature film industry will be well equipped to produce quality, innovative feature films that may be exported around the world.’

Federal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps, who commissioned the Feature Film Advisory Committee report, was in Vancouver May 18 to attend the Canadian Cable Television Association’s convention and choose not to make time to hear Waddell’s presentation in person.