OTTAWA-GATINEAU — The creative community attacked Jim Shaw on Monday for spreading what it says are myths about the Canadian Television Fund and for not showing up to defend his comments before the CRTC.

The CRTC is this week holding hearings about the fund, following up on complaints raised a year ago by the CEO of Shaw Communications and by Quebecor that it is ineffective and wasteful. Actors, writers and directors showed up in force on Monday, but Shaw will not, reportedly because commission chairman Konrad von Finckenstein is not presiding over the hearings, which Shaw sees as a sign the CRTC is not taking his points seriously.

‘I’m furious that Jim Shaw has decided not to come after instigating this whole ridiculous waste of time and energy,’ said actress and activist Wendy Crewson, speaking to Playback Daily.

‘It’s really irresponsible,’ added ACTRA national president Richard Hardacre.

The CFTPA, DGC, WGC, ACTRA and the managers of the CTF itself have mounted a public relations campaign to illustrate the success of the fund. PSAs in its defense aired just prior to Sunday’s Super Bowl on CTV.

‘In all honesty, the fund is not ‘broken,’ and we caution you not to be swayed by misleading comments about the performance and objectives of the fund,’ said CFTPA president and CEO Guy Mayson during the hearings.

CTF president Valerie Creighton stressed to the commission the ‘tremendous successes’ achieved by CTF-backed shows.

She noted that CBC’s The Rick Mercer Report and Little Mosque on the Prairie regularly have audiences around one million on conventional TV, which she said is admirable given the size and fragmentation of the Canadian market. In comparison, she noted that higher-budget U.S. shows with large promotional budgets, such as House and Grey’s Anatomy, deliver around two million viewers in Canada.

During its appearance, the CAB supported the recommendation — made last year by a CRTC task force — that the CTF should be broken into two streams, with $145 million contributed by BDUs going toward commercial productions with lower Cancon standards, and $120 million from the federal government to more culturally driven productions.

‘For the CTF to move forward, and for the Canadian broadcasting system to continue to provide and indeed expand the amount of high-quality Canadian programs in all genres of programming, we are recommending that the CTF vehicle be segregated to provide two streams,’ said Canadian Association of Braodcasters president and CEO Glenn O’Farrell.

At a media conference, Writers Guild of Canada executive director Maureen Parker disagreed.

‘There’s no need for two funds. Where is the business case that says programming [with less Canadian content] is more successful than that with more Canadian content?’ she asked. ‘How do you distinguish between culture and commercial? Culture can be commercial.’

Shaw, followed by Quebecor-owned cable company Videotron, temporarily withdrew his monthly contributions to CTF in 2007 to protest how it was being run. He has also taken out full-page ads that characterize the fund as a multimillion-dollar boondoggle.

Shaw representatives were not available for comment on this story.

The hearings continue until Friday, with Shaw Communications and Quebecor due to appear on Thursday.