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Letters

By Playback Staff
March 6, 2006

Tories committed to the arts

Kudos for your ‘Fear not the Tories’ editorial in the Feb. 20 edition of Playback.

Although one of the perceived barbarians kept outside city gates yet again by Liberally conditioned Toronto voters, I’m reassuring friends across the arts industries spectrum that a Conservative government ­- with Bev Oda running Heritage – isn’t about to mindlessly savage the status quo.

Conservatives recognize that Canada’s distinct, creative society is shaped and sustained by government investment in the arts. Conservatives are well aware of the multiplier benefits of that investment to the Canadian economy – that the roughly $7 billion invested in the arts annually by all levels of government generates more than $26 billion in economic activity and supports 740,000 jobs.

Greater transparency and accountability in all areas of arts funding and regulation can only increase those economic and cultural benefits.

In the arts, as in all other areas of government, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his cabinet and caucus know full well that their performance over the next year or two will determine whether the last vestiges of big-city anxieties about the reconstituted party of Confederation will be finally dispelled.

Peter Kent,
CPC Candidate of Record,
Toronto St Paul’s

Cancon comments ‘misunderstood’I appreciated the feedback from Gerald Pratley regarding my letter, which ran in the Jan. 23 issue of Playback. Mr. Pratley of course makes reasonable arguments in favor of continued cultural support as well as defending the tremendous success our Quebec producers have enjoyed in their own province. I fear, however, that he has misunderstood the context of my comments.

I was not suggesting that David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence and Paul Haggis’ Crash were Canadian features, but suggesting that their recent commercial and critical success should be celebrated and appreciated as examples of Canadians telling universal stories that appeal to worldwide audiences.

I was also suggesting that the rules governing what is and what is not ‘Canadian’ are antiquated and long overdue for an overhaul.

I do think it’s fair to remind Mr. Pratley that Crash has as much to do with Canada as Deepa Mehta’s Water, and the fact that one is Canadian and the other is not is evidence of how absurd the rules are. The same comparison can be made between A History of Violence and Atom Egoyan’s Where the Truth Lies.

Furthermore, the Toronto International Film Festival Group’s placement of History on its Canada’s Top Ten list is equally telling that there is a universal lack of respect for the system in place that establishes the Cancon requirements.

Like Mr. Pratley, I fully appreciate the success of indigenous films from Quebec. I also believe that we can achieve similar success in English Canada, but in order to do so we need a more enlightened view on a number of levels of what is a Canadian film and the kinds of films that receive government support at the development and production stage.

Brad Pelman,
Copresident,
Maple Pictures Corp.,
Toronto.