If the number of one-hour dramas produced by a nation is some sort of benchmark for the overall health of a domestic TV industry, then 2006 stands to be a hale and hearty year in Canada.

According to numbers released by the Canadian Television Fund, there will be 10 CTF-backed one-hour drama series on English TV next year. Of those, seven will run for 13 episodes. It’s a significant jump from six given the go-ahead by the funder last year, including four 13-ep series.

Overall, 36 English-language scripted programs are supported by the 2005 drama stream. CBC got 18 out of the 27 shows it put in for, accounting for almost 44% of the $99 million directed toward the English drama stream. CTV got five out of six, plus two more for The Comedy Network. (The one curiosity is that CTV’s only one-hour drama in the application, Whistler, got shut out, leaving the national network snowbound and without a homegrown 60-minute drama following the cancellation of The Eleventh Hour earlier this year.) As for English Canada’s other broadcasters, Showcase got seven out of 11; CHUM got three out of five; The Movie Network/Movie Central got three out of four; and Global got two out of three.

The numbers put a damper on the contention by several industry groups including ACTRA, the Writers Guild of Canada and the CFTPA that drama is in crisis and a revamp of the rules regulating Canada’s broadcasters must be imposed post haste.

Those with even a passing interest in the Canadian TV sector who read this pub or bird owners who occasionally look to the bottom of the cage, know the numbers: between 1999 and 2005, indigenous English-language one-hour dramas on Canadian TV dropped from 12 to four, triggering what has come to be known as the ‘Canadian drama crisis.’

According to a survey of independent Canadian producers published in the May 9 issue of Playback, drama series production plummeted 33% between 2003 and 2004, alone.

The talent unions under the umbrella moniker Coalition of Canadian Audio-visual Unions along with Canada’s producers have been lashing out at the CRTC and demanding it revamp its policies to force broadcasters to air more fiction TV.

Not surprisingly, most broadcasters disagree. They insist that the answer will come not through regulation but a system that rewards them for hours of indigenous programming aired. For much of the last five years the regulator has taken the side of the broadcasters. Its new ‘drama incentives’ allow broadcasters to sell additional minutes of advertising in primetime in exchange for producing more homegrown drama.

Now, things are finally turning around. The problem facing the group of talent and creators is how do they support their case when the empirical evidence says the ship is righting itself?

They’re certainly not swayed by the data.

‘As far as private broadcasters are concerned, they’re looking forward to licence renewals in a year,’ says ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell. ‘So it’s obvious that they’re preparing for that and they’re putting in place some productions that will make them look good when they get to the [CRTC hearings].’

He may have a point. According to CCAU data, Global has been contributing less than 1% of its total revenues to drama production while CTV has contributed roughly 7%, which, Waddell says, comes mostly from the BCE benefits package due to expire next year.

But the truth is that the drop in drama production in Canada coincided with a drop in drama production around the world as new genres, particularly reality shows, took hold. Drama has now begun to pick up internationally led by such shows as CSI and Desperate Housewives and not coincidentally, it’s picking up here at home, too.

The unions and producers had a compelling argument these last few years for a revamp of the broadcast regulatory system and still their calls fell on deaf ears.

Who will be listening now?