The new minister of Canadian heritage says restoration of the federal government’s support of the Canadian Television Fund is a priority for her but, with the new federal budget just weeks away, she is offering no guarantees to put anxious producers at ease.

Speaking to Playback after her Jan. 29 speech at the CFTPA/APFTQ conference in Ottawa, Quebec City MP Helene Chalifour Scherrer acknowledged the importance of CTF to producers. ‘I’ve heard their message. I’ve heard how important that fund is to them. I’ve heard how the cuts last year affected their industry,’ she says. ‘And I have told them I would be their voice in government.’

Scherrer insists she will find some money to boost the fund, but whether the federal allotment will return to $100 million is unknown.

‘I am going to try [to],’ she says, ‘get back whatever amount I can from my colleagues, and from cabinet and from the next budget. I know it is a major thing for all [players]. They need more money and that money should come from the Canadian Television Fund.’

Ottawa put $100 million per year into the CTF until former finance minister John Manley chopped $25 million per year from the final two years of the current agreement. The cuts sparked a well-publicized crisis in the television sector a year ago and the subsequent political manoeuvring saw the government borrow $12.5 million from this year’s budget to prop up the 2003 subsidies. As a result, the government is only committed to $62.5 million this year – a budget level that will mean even more production woe this spring. So far, there is no commitment from the government on the CTF past this year.

Paul Martin pledged to restore the CTF during his run for the Prime Minister’s Office, but Scherrer seems to be leaving her boss room to manoeuvre. ‘Yes, it is true that at one time Paul Martin did say he would restore [the CTF]. I just hope the circumstances haven’t changed that much for him to change his mind. It is a new budget, a new financial situation for Canada,’ she says.

The heritage minister, a sports enthusiast who calls herself a fan of francophone movies such as Les Invasions barbares, says the original intent was that federal government assistance to the production sector would diminish over time.

‘When the fund was created, the fund was supposed to be less and less every year for a while and then stop – because the private sector would be able to compensate for what the government was not putting in anymore,’ she says. ‘There have been so many changes in the industry in the last five years, so many new [players] in the market and so many people trying to split the pie that the money is more needed than even before.’

However, there is no Plan B in place to assist the production sector if the CTF is not restored.

‘We haven’t looked at those alternatives yet,’ says Scherrer. ‘[If that were to happen], I think we’ll have to go back to the table and sit with some major [players] and say, ‘Okay, what do we do and how do we manage?’ I know that major cuts would hit the industry very hard, but we’ll just have to work differently.’

Scherrer adds that she expects few changes at the CBC, though she has asked network head Robert Rabinovitch for a plan that looks at new ways of doing business.

‘To me, it is important that CBC is everywhere,’ she explains. ‘Of course, they are asking for more money, as is everybody else. But they join all the other Canadian [players] in saying the Canadian Television Fund is a major thing for them.’

To help ensure the CTF remains a priority in government during budget season, Scherrer has challenged the production industry to lobby the government ‘in one loud voice.’

Says Scherrer: ‘I sure hope that I have good news in the months to come.’