For once, the industry has the federal government’s ear.

Film and TV industry representatives have blitzed federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty with advice as he gets set to table a Jan. 27 federal budget, sensing that the Tories will consult seriously as the fate of their minority government hangs in the balance.

The focus of pre-budget submissions has been to ensure that a proposed stimulus package for the recession-bound Canadian economy includes ongoing and new financial support for a job-creating film and TV industry.

‘The audio-visual sector is a pillar of the creative economy, and merits federal incentives and encouragements in order that it may grow to play an even greater role in the future,’ Brian Anthony, national executive director and CEO of the Directors Guild of Canada, told the finance minister.

Parliament has been prorogued, so no finance committee exists to receive industry input. Instead, varied players have directed their submissions and comments directly to Flaherty.

The Writers Guild of Canada asked the federal government to renew the Canadian Television Fund, with an increased contribution, and to ensure long-term stable funding for the CBC and Telefilm Canada’s Canada Feature Film Fund.

The WGC also recommended that federal investment in the Canadian audiovisual sector be ‘strengthened’ and that new incentives for the private sector to invest in Canadian film and TV production, likely through tax credits, be introduced.

Sensing Ottawa wants to jump-start the Canadian economy, the industry submissions laid off traditional arguments about nation- and culture-building, and instead stressed the industry’s job and tax-generating potential.

‘The film and television industry employs a highly skilled workforce of writers, directors, performers, technicians and craftspeople, and generates significant employment spin-off in services such as hotels, catering, leasing companies, suppliers and many more,’ the WGC said in its letter to Flaherty.

The wish list from ACTRA includes increasing both the domestic and foreign tax credits to woo more film and TV production here, and re-introducing income-tax averaging so that independent contractors, the backbone of the industry, can continue to help drive the economy.

The actors union also urged the federal government to direct the CRTC to establish a new media fund through a levy on Internet service providers’ revenues.