MONTREAL — The Quebec producers association was certain the Conservative government was paying attention to the audiovisual sector — until it passed its third consecutive budget without any new cash for this country’s film and TV makers.

‘We thought they got the message and that they understood us. The signs were positive. But there are still no new measures after two years. So we are very disappointed,’ APFTQ spokeswoman Céline Pelletier tells Playback Daily. ‘We have discovered that there just doesn’t seem to be any sensitivity on the part of the government to culture in general, and to our industry in particular.’

The APFTQ says the federal government’s budget ignores its pleas to inject $50 million into Canada’s struggling audiovisual industry. The group wants Ottawa to create a $30-million fund for coproductions, which it says are declining because of rigid CRTC regulations and lack of funding for feature films.

‘Coproductions are important. They often have higher production values and are a bit more expensive. If there was a separate fund it would release more money for Canadian features. Right now, all financing comes from the same source,’ explains Pelletier.

The APFTQ also wants the government to pump $15 million into the Canada Feature Film Fund to account for rising production costs and $5 million into a fund for feature-length documentaries. ‘The Feature Film Fund has been the same amount for six years. It hasn’t been indexed for inflation, and it needs to be.’

Other arts and culture groups took a dim view of the frugal budget, unveiled Tuesday, which Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says will gird the country against an economic downturn.

ACTRA hoped the budget would include more cash for the CBC, Telefilm Canada and the CTF. The union has also long sought a system of income averaging to provide tax fairness for artists.

‘The diminishing presence of Canadian drama on our television screens, the lack of Canadian films in our theatres, chronic under-funding of our cultural institutions and the lack of tax fairness for artists point to a future in which Canadians have no voice,’ said Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the actor’s union, in a statement.

In its response to the budget, the Canadian Conference of the Arts appeared to welcome the news that the government wasn’t cutting money to the cultural sector: ‘Preserving the status quo may well be the most the cultural sector may hope for,’ the organization said in a statement.