OTTAWA — Doug Barrett appeared confident about the future of the Canadian Television Fund on Thursday, telling producers at the Prime Time conference that the fund welcomes a review by the CRTC, while noting that it is only willing to make changes that it believes make sense.

‘Change is easy for us. We welcome it. We are open to considering anything,’ the CTF chair told a sell-out crowd of nearly 700 at the Westin Ottawa. He added, however, that ‘change for change’s sake is not good… we will resist change that is not good. We should be cautious about a dramatic reinvention of things.’

A task force, announced Tuesday, will address complaints made by Shaw Communications and Videotron, which suspended then recently resumed their monthly contributions to the fund. Both cablecos question the CTF’s governance, its relevance in the digital world, and the performance of shows it supports.

Barrett’s words came a day after Minister of Heritage Bev Oda, speaking at the opening night cocktail at the CFTPA conference, noted her appreciation for the about-face by Shaw and Videotron, which, she said, ‘gives the CRTC and the government time to review the options’ for amending the fund.

Also on Thursday, CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson and APFTQ head Claire Samson released their joint Profile 2007 report, which offered mixed news on production in 2005/06.

Among the highlights: overall production was up 5.8% over the previous cycle to $4.8 billion, following a 9.7% decrease in 2004/05, and nearing the 2002/03 record of $5 billion. TV production was up by 1% to $1.8 billion, but total hours were down from about 9,000 to 8,000, the dollar bump being attributable to an increase in per-episode budgets.

Meanwhile, Canadian feature film production rose by a dramatic 76% over 2004/05 levels, to $323 million. But while foreign location shooting was up 71% to $973 million in B.C., it was down 13% in Ontario to $455 million and down 62% in Quebec to $99 million.

In Prime Time’s opening address, Telefilm Canada executive director Wayne Clarkson spoke of the challenge for the public film funder to maintain its 5% market-share goal for domestic movies — only 4.1% was achieved in 2006 — noting it has received no new money since the formation of the Canada Feature Film Fund, while costs have risen.

He applauded the Quebec government for its recent injection of $10 million into the annual budget of provincial funder SODEC, and called for other provinces to step up.

He also spoke of the importance of the CTF. ‘The industry needs the CTF and the public and private funders to produce distinctly Canadian content,’ he said.