Bev Oda is popular with the TV industry, with many viewing her as one of their own – a former broadcaster who knows the industry’s DNA.

But how the newly minted federal heritage minister will fare in the Conservative cabinet, across the table from the new ministers of industry – Maxime Bernier – and finance – Jim Flaherty (Ontario’s tight-fisted finance minister in 2001/02) – remains an open question.

Oda, the MP for Ontario’s Durham riding, was the Tory heritage critic during the last government, and before that a CRTC commissioner and an executive at CTV, in a broadcast career that spanned more than 25 years.

But the 39th Parliament promises heavy-lifting for Oda and those seeking her favor.

‘We all have our work cut out for us,’ says Guy Mayson, president and CEO of the CFTPA, members of which recently carried their perennial ‘Leave no producer behind’ message to Parliament Hill.

‘We’re realists,’ adds Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson. ‘We have the comfort of a minister who knows the principal files well. But this is a government that has big challenges.’

Trying to find its post-Liberals groove, Telefilm plans to pitch more public-private partnerships, modeled on the CTF, for financing homegrown movies and new media.

‘We have no illusions about it. The status quo won’t hold. We have to go in with new, interesting ideas that are cost-effective,’ says Clarkson.

Oda is credited for getting Prime Minister Stephen Harper to soften his criticism of the CBC during the election campaign, though there is still speculation that she may order a parliamentary review of the public broadcaster, and perhaps of the CRTC.

But the consensus among industry insiders is that the minority Conservatives – who campaigned on a platform of accountability, and who now face the traditionally culture-friendly Liberals, NDP and Bloc Quebecois – will, paradoxically, continue to support cultural agencies, on the condition that they do more to respond to people affected by their policies.

‘The money would keep flowing, but programs would need to more transparent and accountable,’ predicts Ian Morrison, spokesman for the lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

FCB also wants Oda to reform the patronage process used to appoint the CBC president.

Holding industry players more accountable plays well with ACTRA, which is urging Oda to have the CRTC re-impose TV drama content and expenditure requirements on private broadcasters.

‘The Conservative Party is not alone in its concerns about the Canadian Television Fund and its governance and its processes,’ says ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell, recalling shots Auditor General Sheila Fraser recently took at the TV industry’s annual money chase.

Oda takes over for Liza Frulla, another former broadcaster, who lost her bid for re-election.