What the Conservative Party didn’t say in their election platform may have helped spark the fire, but what they did say behind closed doors has certainly fueled it.

A leaked Conservative Party document, ‘Policy Briefing Note for Candidates,’ reveals that despite neglecting to take a public stance on culture in the official platform, it would appear that the newly formed party does have some definite plans for Canadian media interests.

The Policy Briefing Note states that if elected, the Conservatives plan to create an open market with the U.S. for licensing television satellite distribution.

It goes on to state that the Conservative Party ‘supports restructuring the CRTC’ and ‘reducing its mandate.’ Further, it states that ‘The Conservative Party supports relaxing foreign ownership rules on Canadian telecommunications and broadcast distribution,’ and would ‘conduct an immediate review to determine whether to reduce or completely remove these rules’ if elected.

‘How much thought the Conservatives have given to culture remains to be seen,’ says Guy Mayson, CEO and president of the CFTPA, ‘but when they start talking about drastically reducing the role of the CRTC, or opening up the market for American satellite transmissions, they are [approaching issues] that have major cultural implications.’

With recent polls pointing to a possible Tory-led government, industry organizations are concerned that if the new Conservative Party does win the next federal election, Canada’s fragile cultural sovereignty could become increasingly vulnerable to total eclipse by American content.

In response, cultural organizations across the country have joined forces in an attempt to force the Conservatives and Liberals (whose party platform also contains little about culture), to disclose their positions on the future of the CRTC, restrictions on foreign ownership of Canadian media companies, and the fate of public funding for the film and television industry.

An informal coalition of industry organizations was formed after the release of party platforms that all but ignore key cultural issues. The coalition includes ACTRA, the Directors Guild of Canada, the Writers Guild of Canada, the CFTPA and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers Union.

Quebec radio and television organizations including ADISQ, APFTQ, ARRQ, SPACQ and UDA have also banded together to push Canadian cultural issues onto election agendas. The Quebec coalition held a press conference on June 4 asking the major political parties to disclose their cultural policies, and after hearing responses only from the Bloc and NDP, encouraged Quebec journalists to push the issue with Liberal and Conservative politicians at public election debates.

The Canadian Association of Broadcasters refused to comment on the issue, citing a lack of consensus among its members. But the CAB did officially join with the CFTPA, APFTQ, ACTRA and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, among other groups, in issuing a joint letter to party leaders that formally requests a clear statement position from each on foreign ownership, public funding and Cancon.

According to both French- and English-language coalitions, intentions to relax foreign ownership restrictions and dramatically restructure the industry’s regulatory body are among the most disturbing positions set forth in the policy briefing note.

Foreign ownership is something most Canadians are not in favor of, according to an Ipsos-Reid survey commissioned by the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, which found that at least 80% of Canadians are committed to keeping Canadian cable properties in the hands of national companies.

‘Foreign ownership should be a key [election] issue and it is not,’ says ACTRA’s national executive director Stephen Waddell. ‘These things are taking place behind closed doors and yet there’s been no public debate on these issues.’

Waddell’s fear with respect to the Liberal Party is that they have not come forward and taken a position on key cultural issues. Currently, the Standing Committee on Finance supports loosening foreign ownership restrictions, but the Standing Committee on Heritage does not. Waddell says he hopes the government will reach some kind of consensus and make its position known.

‘There is a whole lot of pressure on the Liberal government from its major Liberal supporters, like [CanWest Global president and CEO] Leonard Asper, to weaken foreign ownership restrictions,’ Waddell says.

However, since the leak of the Conservatives’ policy briefing note and subsequent joint action by its competition, culture may be getting increased attention.

‘A week ago, culture was not on the [election] agenda,’ says Ian Morrison of the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting. ‘Now it is becoming at least a secondary issue. The Liberals know they’re in trouble and are searching rather aggressively for wedge issues [like culture] to differentiate themselves from their opponents.’

While Heritage Minister Helene Chalifour Scherrer’s June 14 address at the Banff Television Festival did little to clarify the Liberal’s position on key issues, focusing instead on how a Conservative government would hurt Canada’s cultural industries, Morrison points out that at least the party thought the issues were worth sending a minister across the country in the middle of election campaigning.

‘While it will never get as much attention as health care or the military, at this point I think culture is more a part of the election agenda than it has been since [Friends] was created in 1985,’ says Morrison.

Paul Gross, who has led ACTRA’s Campaign for Canadian Programming, is spearheading the push for party disclosure of cultural portfolios, and is among several of the country’s most recognizable stars participating in coalition activities.

An ACTRA Toronto news conference at CBC’s Barbara Frum Atrium, scheduled for June 16 (after Playback went to press), intended to promote Canadian culture and the threat of increased foreign ownership as election issues. Stars scheduled to attend included Sonja Smits, Sarah Polley, Wendy Crewson and Ken Finkleman. Two days earlier, Gordon Pinsent issued a similar challenge at a press conference at the Banff fest.