The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage investigation into domestic feature films slowed last month amid the near-collapse of the federal government. Hearings in Vancouver, scheduled for May 4 and 5, as well as those in Halifax, scheduled for May 18 and 19, were postponed to the first week of June. The tour should reach Vancouver before committee members move on to the Banff World Television Festival, June 12-15.

The committee was to have visited five major cities hosting inquiries into Canada’s feature film industry by May 19.

The committee did manage to complete hearings in Winnipeg, Toronto and Montreal in April. Industry stakeholders from each region presented evidence and spoke with committee representatives including committee chair Marlene Catterall, Mario Silva and opposition Heritage critic Bev Oda on the state of feature film production in Canada.

So far, Oda says the process has been very worthwhile.

‘Other than the normal differences you would expect from size and scope of the cities, the fundamental underlying challenges are basically the same,’ she says.

Common complaints Oda has heard throughout the tour thus far include the availability and accessibility of financing as well as issues pertaining to the distribution and exhibition of Canadian features.

‘English-language features aren’t doing as well as French-language. I have come to realize we shouldn’t be doing comparisons of the two and recognize they just operate in different realities,’ she says.

The committee announced its intention to study the feature industry in December 2004 and hopes to make recommendations to Heritage Minister Liza Frulla before the end of year.