MONTREAL — The Bloc Québécois believes the heritage committee report on the Canadian Television Fund crisis is inadequate because it fails to push for changes to the CTF’s structure.

The committee should have launched an in-depth study into CTF’s operation and governance, says the Bloc document submitted to the House today along with the standing committee’s final report, which was drafted in large part by NDP Heritage Critic Charlie Angus. The committee says the CTF should stay as it is, with all of its cash going to independent producers and 37% destined for the CBC/SRC.

‘We think the refusal of Shaw and Videotron to pay into the fund isn’t the problem, it’s a symptom of a larger problem,’ says Maka Kotto, a member of the heritage committee and a Bloc MP for Saint-Lambert. ‘We agree with most things in the report, but unlike the NDP, we don’t think everything is going well with the fund.’

Kotto appeared to echo the assertion of Pierre Karl Peladeau, president and CEO of Videotron owner Quebecor, that the CTF’s structure is out of date. ‘Because of media convergence, certain cable providers are also broadcasters, yet it’s only the CBC and Radio-Canada that have access to that CTF money. We have questions around that,’ he says. Kotto also questions why TV producers, and not those working on other platforms such as the Internet, have access to the fund.

Although the 11-member heritage committee — which includes four Conservatives, four Liberals and two Bloc members — voted in favor of the report, its Tory members have submitted a dissenting report today. The dissenting report wasn’t available at press time, but the heritage committee’s Conservative chair, Gary Schellenberger, told Playback Daily earlier this month that he felt the fund’s structure needs to change. The MP for Perth-Wellington also defended the actions of Shaw and Videotron that the original report condemns.

The heritage committee report also says stiffer rules are needed so cable companies aren’t tempted to withdraw their payments in the future. But the Bloc document asserts that the CRTC doesn’t have the power to impose fines, and calls on the government to amend the Broadcasting Act so that it does.