Halifax: This Hour Has 22 Minutes is returning to its Newfoundland roots with the recruitment of Shaun Majumder, as the fourth anchor of the spoof news show replacing Colin Mochrie. The 31-year-old comedian from Burlington, NF ‘oozes talent,’ says Salter Street Films president Michael Donovan, the show’s executive producer.

Majumder, says Donovan, has been on the 22 Minutes radar for a while. The Oscar-winning producer admits that he tries to keep tabs on the comedic talent across Canada and periodically crosses the country in search of fresh faces. Majumder was a featured player on Fox’s Cedric the Entertainer, and has appeared in films Pushing Tin and Purpose.

In another 22 Minutes casting note, the role of field reporter Mark Critch is also being expanded. He, too, is from Newfoundland.

‘There is something about the show that seems to work with a Newfoundland world view,’ says Donovan. ‘There is something about an island off the coast, lost in the fog… that gives it a unique perspective, in the same way Canada has a unique perspective on the United States. There is a huge amount of creativity there.’

So, after what can only be termed as a year of uncertainty, 22 Minutes is ready to go. Replacing Mochrie was the least of the series’ worries this year.

22 Minutes was completely shut out of the CTF’s LFP funding round, and didn’t apply for EIP. After what Donovan has called a number of sleepless nights, Salter and CBC (the series’ broadcaster) came up with a creative financing solution. Although Donovan has been sleeping more soundly (until 6:55 a.m. on this day), the whole situation has not sat well, and he feels something has to change if the federal government expects television producers to keep going.

He estimates the Canadian government only allots about $150 million for its film and television initiatives – ‘truly, truly chump change,’ says Donovan.

‘The problem is that the government has been able to get away with murder,’ he says. ‘They give us [very little], and then everyone in the industry – and the industry is to blame, I’ve decided – tromp up to Ottawa and kiss ass, saying, ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you,’ when actually the Canadian industry should take the chump change, toss it back at Ottawa and say ‘Send real money or forget it.”

Donovan says the $25-million cut to the CTF was the last straw, and underfunded Canadian producers should consider drastic measures to show their displeasure with the current situation.

‘I think all of the Canadian television producers should go on strike and refuse to produce any more Canadian television and send all of the money back until serious money and serious attitude comes out of Ottawa,’ he says.

22 Minutes’ season premiere is scheduled for Oct. 10 on CBC. Production, says Donovan, will likely begin by the end of September.

-www.salter.com