In the May 4 editorial, Playback editor Samantha Yaffe expressed confidence that Canada is and will remain the first choice for location shooting, despite attempts by a U.S. coalition to combat production incentives. While I also believe that Canada continues to be at the forefront of location choices for U.S.-based producers, having just returned from Los Angeles and a series of meetings with various producers, financiers and distributors, my optimism is slightly more guarded. On more than one occasion in these meetings certain issues were raised which led me to believe that notwithstanding any anti-runaway production lobby, we may be losing productions that would otherwise have come to Canada.

Aside from our very solid infrastructure, Canada has had several economic factors in its favor that have helped to attract production: tax incentives, favorable guild rates and our lower dollar. While the dollar has not gone up, the other factors are a different issue.

Last year, our federal government decided to abolish the production services tax shelter – which was utilized by nearly every high-budget production that came to Canada. When discussing the demise of the shelters, I heard the constant refrain ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ This is something I am very used to hearing from U.S. business people in the industry. It is widely believed that every time the rules governing Canadian incentives become comprehensible to them, our government decides to make a policy change.

This year, SAG is threatening to impose its jurisdiction worldwide starting May 1 (and ironically, I understand that ACTRA may view this as something that will benefit its members). Based on my recent discussions, these events could have a direct impact on producers choosing Canada, since they erode the monetary benefit gained by coming here.

Canada’s success continues to be the envy and the model for other nations (and even certain U.S. states) that are trying to attract production. These jurisdictions are eager, and are introducing enhanced and competitive economic incentives at a time when such incentives here appear to be shrinking. Since film and television production is by its very nature a mobile business and one that is extremely responsive to economic factors, these developments should give us some pause for thought.

(Ken Dhaliwal is a partner in the Toronto office of law firm Heenan Blaikie LLP. This article contains his personal opinion, and does not necessarily represent the opinion or position of Heenan Blaikie LLP.)