A thousand people are heading to Ottawa this month to make themselves heard.

On one hand, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters is expecting 700 or so of its members to converge on the Westin hotel and conference center for its annual huddle, Nov. 28-30. It has pulled a number of key MPs into its three-day program, during which, there can be no doubt, execs and lobbyists will shake many hands and murmur in many ears, looking to make their points about the TV trade. The problem with foreign channels and signal theft. Part Two fees. The need for strict copyright laws. And so forth.

CAB has invited 80 MPs to sit in on the conference, this year dubbed ‘Putting Canada First,’ and has confirmed Liza Frulla, the minister of Canadian heritage, and her critics from both the Bloc Quebecois and the Tories. Frulla will speak during CAB’s Gold Ribbon Awards, while another Heritage MP, parliamentary secretary Sarmite Bulte, will spar with opposition critics Maka Kotto and Beverly Oda at a Nov. 30 panel session about the strengths and weaknesses of the Canuck TV system. Another session will put high-ranked MPs from the Liberals, Tories, the Bloc and the NDP on stage for an hour-long talk about what TV and the culture trade can expect from Paul Martin’s minority government.

CAB has signed up a record 90 panelists and speakers and has broadened its convention program, scheduling more events and talks on the opening Sunday, including a forum for radio execs and a three-hour seminar on cultural diversity.

‘The whole intent is to foster dialogue among our members and decision makers,’ says convention organizer and CAB SVP of marketing Sean Kiely.

‘We have a lot of knowledgeable people in this industry, and there’s only so many you can fit on a panel in any given year… There are always fresh voices to be added.’

But putting all those decision makers in one place has also attracted ACTRA, which is sending an estimated 300 of its more vocal members from Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa – backed up by folks from the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting and the CEP union, which represents staff at various casters – to rally outside the Westin, repeating their familiar complaints about casters and the CRTC.

‘Our chief message for the government is still that the 1999 Television Policy is a complete disaster. The CRTC needs to reinstate content and expenditure requirements,’ says ACTRA national exec director Stephen Waddell. ‘We’re hopeful that with this minority government, more attention will be paid to the [film and TV] sector, although we haven’t seen it so far.’

ACTRA will rally on Nov. 29, the same day CRTC head Charles Dalfen is scheduled to speak, and will move on to lobby on Parliament Hill Nov. 30.

Both sides see the unsteady Martin administration as a chance to make gains on the lobby front and to make up for the lack of attention that culture and communication issues got from Ottawa wannabes during the federal election, although one CAB exec cautions that lobbying isn’t always easier during minority governments.

‘It depends on the issues,’ says Sandra Graham, SVP of public affairs. ‘There are so many competing interests that it can also complicate things.’

Graham is organizing an ‘MP matchup’ at the convention, trying to get those 80 or so federal reps to sit down with broadcasters and other CAB members from their ridings to talk about hot-button issues. She says lobby efforts in the year ahead will be focused against foreign TV channels and signal theft – in particular after last month’s court ruling in Quebec that reopened the door for grey-market satellite service.

‘The Quebec ruling was a huge setback,’ Graham admits. CAB and other lobby groups are calling for a federal appeal. ‘We’re hopeful that [the courts] will step back up to the plate.’

-www. cab-acr.ca