Actors aligned with ACTRA marched on the Ontario legislature Thursday to urge the provincial government to strengthen its proposed status of the artist act.

‘This act makes a mockery of the term ‘status of the artist,” said ACTRA Toronto president Karl Pruner, along with fellow actors Wendy Crewson, Sonja Smits and Tonya Lee Williams, at a press conference at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

‘After years of hard work by the [Ontario] culture minister’s own subcommittee on status of the artist, all this empty act contains is a weekend to celebrate artists,’ he added. The new legislation recognizes artists’ contributions to the Ontario economy, and proposes to declare the first weekend of June as Celebrate the Artist Weekend.

ACTRA officials insist Ontario’s Liberal government promised during the 2003 election to bring in status of the artist legislation, and established a special committee to research the concerns of actors and other artists.

Pruner didn’t disguise his disappointment that the resulting legislation, as it stands, falls far short of expectations.

‘This is a kick in the ass, and I mean that from us to them,’ he said.

ACTRA has pursued status of the artist law in Ontario to protect the rights and benefits of its members, most of whom are independent contractors and are without protections accorded to full-time workers.

But representing actors as independent contractors so they can write off expenses for tax purposes cuts both ways, as ACTRA found out during its recent strike, when the CFTPA went to court to question its collective bargaining rights.

So, secondarily, the actors union aims at making any eventual status of the artist law in Ontario shore up its argument that ACTRA is a bona fide union under the umbrella of the Ontario Labour Relations Act, and thereby preclude producers from replaying the legal card during future negotiations.

Ontario Culture Minister Caroline Di Cocco was not available for comment at press time.