Knowing its has bigger fish to fry, the Writers Guild of Canada has extended its labor deal with Canadian producers for another year to the end of 2009.

WGC said Monday its members have ratified the extension of their current deal with the CFTPA and Quebec producers aligned with the APFTQ, which was to expire on Dec. 31. The new agreement will run to Dec. 31, 2009, and includes a 3% increase on the minimum script fee.

By the time the new agreement is re-negotiated in late 2009, the WGC ventures the industry’s landscape could be much-changed after the upcoming CRTC hearings into new media and renewals of broadcast licenses for Global Television and CTV.

The WGC also wants to wait for the dust to settle on the pending terms of trade negotiations between Canadian producers and the broadcasters, and likely reforms to the Canadian Television Fund.

For its part, the CFTPA wants to avoid time-consuming and costly negotiations with the WGC, especially since both parties have a joint interest in securing a favorable outcome to upcoming CRTC hearings and negotiations with dominant broadcasters.

‘All parties recognize that the collective bargaining process is time consuming and costly, and it was easy to agree that we would be far better to devote these resources to our common cause of improving the production landscape in Canada,’ John Barrack, national VP for the CFTPA, said in a statement.