Responding to a soaring dollar, British Columbia’s leading service suppliers are considering a move to accept U.S. dollars at par to keep Los Angeles producers shooting locally.

But given the loonie’s wild fluctuations and discounts already on offer from some B.C. suppliers, the dollar peg is no done deal.

Peter Leitch, chairman of the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of British Columbia, on Friday told Playback Daily that local studios, production equipment suppliers, and unions and guilds are currently being polled on the initiative, and asked to sign up.

He added that MPPIA members are not yet ready to pull the trigger on accepting dollars at par, not least because some suppliers have already cut prices to attract business.

‘The intentions are extremely good. I just want to make sure, in terms of the process, it doesn’t have a negative impact on the people who have been providing good value all along,’ Leitch said.

In addition, offering discounts could send the wrong message to the major studios.

‘We don’t want to be the low-cost supplier. That way you don’t have an industry,’ Leitch said of embarking on price cuts that could become a race to the bottom, as far as standards are concerned.

Other reasons to avoid the peg include that the B.C. industry does not want to be seen to be acting under pressure, and the high loonie could devalue on its own as global oil and gold prices retreat from their current highs.

The dollar peg initiative comes as the B.C. production sector looks to continue as a high-value supplier to the major studios, and yet avoid becoming the latest manufacturing victim of the surging Canadian dollar.

‘We have some good relationships with the studios, and we want to offer a film rate to attract the industry,’ Leitch said.

After the current polling of members, the MPPIA will identify which suppliers have signed on to the dollar-peg initiative by Nov. 14.