Vancouver: b.c.-owned and -controlled production quadrupled to $167 million in 1998 from $43 million in spending in 1994, says the provincial ministry responsible for film and television. Canadian-controlled production shot in b.c., meanwhile, more than quadrupled over the same period to $196 million in 1998.

Ian Waddell, minister of small business, tourism and culture, says the trends are in the right direction, but he has nagging doubts about the future. For one, federal funding has increased in b.c. but not at the rate of growth for the domestic industry. He also has concerns about the veracity of Francois Macerola’s assertion that the Production Services Tax Credit will not suffer from the start-up of the new Feature Film Fund. Waddell was set to meet with Heritage Minister Sheila Copps Oct. 14 in Ottawa to express concerns that the tax credit – which fuels the u.s. service industry – is, indeed, threatened.

‘I’m all in favor of measures supporting Canada’s film industry and the creation of a new feature film fund,’ he says. ‘But British Columbian filmmakers must get their fair share. Canada’s film industry doesn’t begin and end in Toronto and Montreal. Any new federal film programs must provide opportunities for b.c.’s growing domestic film industry.’