Vancouver: The b.c. government has a dilemma: can it match Ontario’s tax credit for foreign producers or should it risk losing the jobs assigned to the estimated 50% of service business which will leave b.c. next year if it doesn’t?

Industry sources are betting that b.c. jobs will prevail and that the government will announce a definitive position – a matching or near-matching incentive to Ontario’s 11% rebate to foreign producers – before or at the American Film Market in late February.

Industry and government representatives began meeting Jan. 6 to work out the details of the wording of a matching incentive to be added to the new provincial tax credit to be enacted April 1.

To date, however, the provincial government has been officially non-committal. ‘We are aware of Ontario’s announcement,’ says film ministry spokesperson Dianne MacDougall. ‘As yet, there is no decision to match it. However, we are analyzing the potential impact on the industry.’

There is reason to fear the b.c. government’s political caution. At all-time lows in public opinion polls, the ndp government has been buffeted by a controversial bailout of a troubled lumber and pulp company, Skeena Cellulose, to save jobs in Northern b.c. The government is also considering the viability of an election this year, fueling concern that more big spending on the film industry might not play well with voters.

Colleen Nystedt, a service producer who did five u.s. shows in 1997, says the new tax credits undermine local producers’ ability to use cavco to become creative and financial partners in service jobs. However, as a reality, they are necessary if business is to stay in b.c.

‘When u.s. companies can get the same money without cavco, there is no economic gain for us [service producers],’ says Nystedt. ‘But if my clients can get 11% by going to Ontario to shoot, then that’s where they’ll go. The only shows that will stay in b.c. will be here for the location or other contractual obligations.’