Montreal: The Department of Heritage’s review of management practices says the film and television funding and certification system needs better coordination – especially in terms of risk-analysis and overlapping jurisdictions.

The auditors’ report, released Feb. 17, calls for prompt additional measures to prevent risky financial and business decisions, including fraud.

The review calls on Heritage’s corporate review branch to work with cavco, Telefilm Canada and the Canadian Television Fund to establish an appropriate action plan. The document makes many recommendations for cavco, Telefilm, and ctf; none for the fourth agency studied, Canada Customs and Revenue Agency.

In particular, the management review (www.pch.gc.ca) says action should be taken to improve information exchange, provide joint-risk analysis on a system-wide basis and technical support for audit planning, performance measurement and clearer reporting.

Financial risk, says the review (authored by a committee of senior officials from Canadian Heritage, the Treasury Board, Revenue Canada, Finance Canada and Justice Canada) includes the potential for fraud, while business risks relate to issues like performance measurement or the achievement of program success.

The cftpa supports ‘anything that ensures that public monies are being spent appropriately and spent in the interests of the taxpayers…,’ says president Elizabeth McDonald. ‘We fully support the efforts of government to streamline this and make sure they are comfortable that [the funds] are managed efficiently, effectively and appropriately.’

McDonald says the review was done at arm’s length ‘and reads like a very carefully, professionally done and excellent report by auditors making some very good recommendations.’ She says auditors reports never make the claim ‘everything is perfect,’ but the review recommendations will be followed up and are a form of assurance ‘that those people who want access to public money will be able to do so in a way which provides comfort to those giving the money.’

While some producers say a more stringent cavco process will result in higher legal costs, McDonald says the claim should be weighed against the budget promise of a simpler tax credit process. ‘[Government] is simplifying the process…and at the same time streamlining it to make sure it works to the public good.’

In a joint communique, eight Quebec industry associations say Heritage’s management review is strictly an accounting exercise and doesn’t go far enough. The associations want more ‘transparency’ in how public funds are used, including access to information on production and development funding by the ctf, Telefilm, sodec and advanced tax-credit rulings from cavco and sodec.

sartec director-general Yves Legare says creators and artists are generally excluded from decision-making, have no representation on the ctf board, while the Heritage review ‘holds producers alone to be the masters of the industry.’

‘This fall, people questioned the management practices in our industry and the way to reply to that is to be completely transparent. If we want to be sure funds are invested properly, then we need to have that information,’ says Legare.

The communique is signed by directors in aarq and the Quebec District Council of the dgc, technicians in stcvq and apvq, composers in spacq and performers in uda and actra.

The Heritage review says cavco certified $1.29 billion in productions in ’98/99 worth $118 million in admissible tax credits.