After being stalled by the near collapse of the minority Liberal government in May, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage completed the first stage of its investigation into Canada’s feature film industry with a public hearing in Vancouver June 9-10. The cross-Canada tour also included hearings with members of film and television communities in Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.

Because hearings in Vancouver and Halifax had to be rescheduled, chair Marlene Catterall says the committee will not submit its report to the government before Parliament recesses for summer as planned.

She explains that the final two hearings provided important perspectives not voiced throughout the rest of the tour.

For example, she says, ‘We heard very little about encouraging more private investment in Canadian films from witnesses until Vancouver, when every second witness was talking about more private investment.’

The committee will put together an interim report towards the end of June that will summarize testimony collected through public hearings and ask for additional feedback.

Catterall explains that many committee members feel more dialogue is needed due to lack of communication among different facets of the industry in English Canada. ‘What we have found is that elements of the industry don’t talk to each other much,’ she says.

In order for the final report to have an impact, Catterall says the committee will likely host roundtables on key issues after people have had a chance to respond to the interim report.

‘We want a comprehensive report that will not be turned away,’ says committee member Mario Silva. ‘We want the minister to actually have an interest in this.’

Silva says that while some common national issues emerged early on in the game, tension between major and regional production centers was also apparent.

Representatives at the meeting in Winnipeg April 4 and at the June 6 meeting in Halifax made a strong call for more regional voices in Canadian film and television. Both Caryl Brandt, executive director of the Manitoba Motion Picture Industry Association, and Ann MacKenzie, CEO of the Nova Scotia Film Development Corporation, stressed the need for equitable access to funding and programs in the regions.

The tension between Canada’s regional and major production centers is likely to be an issue for the committee as their talks proceed. Silva, for example, says that while regional voices are important, industry growth also depends on strengthening existing major centers.

‘There are things that can be developed to work within [regional] communities, but we still have to support and encourage major production centers such as Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. That critical mass is needed to attract the type of productions that we need from the U.S.,’ says Silva. ‘The U.S. has L.A. and New York. In Canada, every city wants to have a film center and a film policy that deals with their specific issues, but I don’t know how realistic that is going to be.’

While Brandt and MacKenzie made strong cases for developing regional production centers, they were equally passionate on the issue of improving current marketing, promotion and distribution practices in English Canada, an opinion that was echoed across the country.

Silva agrees that the lack of funding available for marketing English features is a major impediment to growing English Canada’s feature film industry. In Canada, he says, it is normal for a feature that received $1 million in funding to spend almost all of its budget on production and nothing on marketing. ‘It’s the total opposite of what the U.S. does,’ Silva says, explaining that after going over budgets for many English features he found that the small amount of money set aside for marketing ‘just doesn’t make sense.’

Committee member and opposition Heritage critic Bev Oda, former broadcaster and CRTC commissioner, agrees that these matters require further investigation.

‘In addition to the general issues that have been challenges for many years, there’s a real focus on distribution and exhibition,’ says Oda of feedback the committee heard from industry members during the tour. ‘We’re looking at exploring further into that area.’

-www.pch.gc.ca