montreal: The production industry in Quebec has high expectations, particularly in export terms, for Louise Beaudoin, the province’s new minister of culture and communications.

A former distribution and marketing executive with Telefilm Canada, Beaudoin was sworn in as culture minister Aug. 3, replacing Premier Jacques Parizeau who held the post on an ad hoc basis for the past six months.

Speaking on behalf of Quebec producers, apftq president/director general Louise Baillargeon says Beaudoin is the logical choice for the job.

‘Madame Beaudoin recently said in Cannes that culture is important for the Quebec government, and even more important, that our culture must be exported. Now that she’s in charge, she can turn those words into action, and consequently win the support of all Quebec producers,’ says Baillargeon.

Beaudoin, who has been the Quebec government’s tough-talking minister of intergovernmental affairs since late September 1994, is also known as an effective advocate of coproduction with Europe. She was director of distribution, marketing and international affairs at Telefilm Canada from 1987 to 1990, and earlier served as Quebec’s delegate-general in Paris.

At an Aug. 3 press conference in the provincial capital, Beaudoin said she’d push for complete control over culture and communications and that she’d respect minority anglophone rights in culture in a sovereign Quebec.

Support for Beaudoin’s nomination reflects the government’s positive attitude toward the industry.

The production industry in Quebec has always been keenly aware of its own self-interest, and the motivation of benefactors is more or less irrelevant.

This stands in sharp contrast to the morose climate now installed in Ontario following severe budget cuts to the Ontario Film Investment Program and the Ontario Film Development Corporation by newly elected Conservative Premier Mike Harris.

Under Parizeau’s tenure, Quebec prudently initiated a wide-ranging consultation process before naming Pierre Lampron as president of sodec, a popular choice to head the new cultural funding and certification agency. Government has also reaffirmed the industry’s vital $38 million a year refundable tax credit program and expanded it to include variety and magazine programs, a long-standing demand on the part of producers. Multimedia production has also been made eligible for the tax credit.

The Parizeau government recently committed more than $8 million to purchase and renovate new facilities for Cinematheque quebecoise and Institut national de l’image et du son, the new advanced film studies school. It has also established a $27 million Information Highway Fund, personally headed by the premier.

Industry figures as diverse as La Fete president Rock Demers and Union des artistes president Serge Turgeon have come out in support of Beaudoin’s nomination.

Max Films producer Roger Frappier says Beaudoin is the best choice for the job.

‘She has lots of experience in the fieldso she knows our films have to reach European audiences. She’s a hard worker, she is ambitious, and is quite aware of the community’s level of expectation.’

As culture minister, Beaudoin is also a member of the government’s priority committee.