At press time, Canadian Association of Broadcasters was gearing up for the 26th annual can pro convention, to be held March 20-22 in Ottawa.

can pro brings together Canadian television producers, broadcasters, programmers and public relations folk for a weekend of awards and schmoozing, but more than anything it is a discussion of the major issues concerning the industry on how to make Canadian tv better.

Until recently, can pro focused more on local programming and promotions, but it now welcomes producers and broadcasters of national multimarket programming into the can pro mix.

cab president Michael McCabe says the event gives private broadcasters an opportunity to learn from each other as well as the experts.

‘My job with can pro is to encourage programmers and producers to move toward higher quality programming,’ says McCabe.

‘Going back as far as e.n.g., and then looking ahead to The City and Traders, you start to say to yourself, `It’s starting to take off.’ You used to be uncertain when you turned on a Canadian drama whether it would be the kind of quality [program] that viewers expect. I think we’ve managed to achieve a level of quality with a few series per broadcaster; now can we break out and get many quality series per broadcaster?

‘can pro is at the heart of the private television business,’ says McCabe. ‘The only thing that is going to allow [Canadian broadcasters] to succeed in the future where people have a vast array of choice is the quality of our programming, and can pro is focused on raising the quality of that programming. It is an annual meeting of our partners in the production industry to focus on the quality of the programming, and the quality of the programming is the key to our future.’

This year’s event kicks off on Saturday, March 20 with an opening party on Parliament Hill hosted by Speaker of the House Gilbert Parent.

Parent is one of many political types expected at can pro this year.

‘We are in Ottawa for the first time and I think we will have the involvement of government people who have policy interests in our business,’ says McCabe.

‘That [includes] the crtc, the Heritage Department, people like Herb Gray who will be speaking, people from the finance department and trade department. I think one of the emphases we are trying to put on this year is the involvement of government. I want them to understand our industry better.’

Sunday, March 21, kicks off with an address by Daniel Lamarre, president and ceo of tva out of Quebec, who will discuss the merits of ‘Homegrown Content – an International Tool.’

Andree Wylie, crtc vice chair, is the keynote luncheon speaker. Also on the bill is u.s. producer Phillip Levitan, whose projects include the nbc miniseries Wallenberg and cbs movie Labor of Love.

Following is the ‘The Ten Commandments of Successful News Promotion’ workshop, featuring consultant Doug Clemensen, who will discuss strategies for success and mistakes to avoid in news promotion.

can pro’s codirector of competitions Brian Vos promises Clemensen will bring some very insightful information to the conference which delegates can deploy in their own environment.

Also on the agenda for this year’s can pro is the Production Excellence workshop on Monday, March 22. Still a relatively new feature to the event, the workshop is hosted by the producers, creators or writers of a new Canadian series who discuss how they went about getting the projects to the small screen.

The featured program this year is Justice and heading up the discussion will be executive producer Alyson Feltes and producer Brian Dennis.

Also under the banner of Production Excellence is Julie Snyder, producer and host of tva’s top-rated Poing J. (At last year’s can pro, Snyder hosted a Production Excellence seminar and entered the building on horseback. She rode back out at the end of the weekend holding an award for best talk and variety program in 1998.)

According to can pro executive director Sharon Orr, Snyder’s ‘the hottest thing going in Quebec and she’s got incredible ratings.’

A new addition to can pro is the New Media workshop, hosted by Andy Beers of Microsoft Corporation. Beers is set to discuss the potential of programming on the Internet and the potential for money to be made there.

‘We have been, as conventional broadcasters and specialty services, what we call appointment television. We have schedules where viewers know that at 8 o’clock their favorite program is going to be on,’ says McCabe.

‘The Internet works differently. It works virtually on demand so you can get what you want when you want it. We are a couple of years away from that in the operation, but if you look at Web tv in the u.s., you begin to see that there is a potential. It can be a threat, but I think the interest we have is saying, as well as a threat, can it be an opportunity?’

Vos says that despite the interest, can pro has not yet included new media categories in its awards competition.

‘New media is part of our long-term plan,’ he says. ‘It is still kind of in its infancy, but there is a likelihood that you will see a new media category under the can pro umbrella next year. It is certainly one area we will be discussing.’

Monday afternoon, ctv’s Lloyd Robertson will moderate the Friends in High Places workshop, a discussion about the state of Canadian programming heading into 2000. On the panel are John Cassaday, president and ceo of Shaw Media; Andre Picard, president and gm of Coscient Group; Phyllis Yaffe, president and ceo of Showcase and History Television; James B. Macdonald, president and ceo of WIC Television; and, Jay Switzer,vp, programming at Citytv.

Capping off the ’99 confab is the awards gala, featuring performances by singers Corey Hart and Nancy Dumais and illusionist Frederick Clement.

This year, four juries in Montreal, Vancouver, Halifax and Ottawa sifted through 728 entries, an 11% increase over 1998.

There are over 20 categories ranging from daily newscast, mini-feature, special reports, documentary and magazine/public affairs categories in the private broadcasting division alone.

Among private broadcasters, bctv Vancouver leads the pack with six nominations, while chbc-tv Kelowna, Global Halifax and CKY5-TV Winnipeg each have five finalists in the running.

In the multi-market categories, chum produced 11 finalists, ctv has nine, and Coscient five.

In the earliest stages in the awards division are the nods to independent productions. Vos says now that the independent categories are included, the entries are steady and plentiful.

‘Two years ago we had about 20 entries in the independent categories. We now have over 100 entries in 10 categories. So the competition within the independent aspect of program production has quadrupled,’ says Vos, adding:

‘[This year] we will probably see more independent producers [in attendance] than we have in the past by virtue of the number of entries that we’ve seen in that category, which is a very positive thing.’

There are also awards for promotional work done in both private broadcasting and multimedia.