Finance Minister Ralph Goodale has called his long-awaited federal budget for March 23, and there remains no indication that the feds’ contribution to the Canadian Television Fund will be restored to its former amount.

The feds have tabled a 365-page document Feb. 24 outlining the main estimates for the budget in the House of Commons. The paper shows the allocation for the feds’ 2004/05 CTF contribution standing pat at $62 million. Many producers nationwide are holding on to the hope that the feds will restore that amount to its former $100 million – something that Prime Minister Paul Martin has promised.

‘If [that’s] going to be in the budget, we don’t know. It’s Mr. Goodale and Mr. Martin who have got the crystal ball on that. We have no idea what’s going to be in it,’ says Catherine Gagnaire, media relations officer at the Department of Canadian Heritage.

ACTRA was quick to respond to the estimates, and remains hopeful.

‘We were assured… that this is a routine filing and does not tell us the government’s intentions about the fund for next year,’ said ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell in a statement. ‘We are focusing on the budget expected in March, and are counting on the Prime Minister to stand by his word and give the CTF long-term stable funding to help save our industry from a final and irreversible collapse.’

Meanwhile, the estimates show a projected 2004/05 budget total of $129 million for Telefilm Canada, down slightly from the year before, and a budget of $1 billion for the CBC, up from $997 million.

Industry watchers agree the figures are subject to change.