IN the past few years, high tax credits and incentives in the Prairie provinces, coupled with relatively low tax credits in major production centers, have helped regional producers to build film and television industries in Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary. However, recent tax-credit hikes have made Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia more competitive and may be enough to lure production back to the centers.

It’s hard to tell if those tax-credit hikes will reduce the number of interprovincial coproductions shooting in the Prairies – as Ontario, Quebec and B.C. producers opt to produce at home without partners – and whether enhanced service credits will take important foreign production away from the region.

Manitoba is the first Prairie province to take a proactive stand at keeping its production sector competitive. At press time, the Manitoba government announced that it was upping its tax credit to 45% from 35%. In Saskatchewan and Alberta, meanwhile, some producers are cautiously optimistic that it will remain business as usual, and most are flat out convinced that the tax-credit hikes will have little if any effect on them – or, at least, are saying as much. These provinces are more preoccupied with moving forward on their own agendas than with developments in the rest of the country.

In late December, Ontario increased its domestic tax credit to 30% from 20%, and its service credit to 18% from 11%. One week later, Quebec, which has a 29% domestic credit, hiked its service credit to 20% from 11%. And by Jan. 20, B.C. had followed suit, increasing service and domestic credits on par with Ontario.

In Saskatchewan, the tax credit sits at 35%. In addition to its increased credit, Manitoba offers an additional 5% to producers who frequently shoot in the province, or who shoot outside Winnipeg’s city center. In Alberta, where foreign producers are required to partner with a local prodco, the Alberta Film Development Program provides a formula grant of 20% on total Alberta spends.