Telefilm Canada executive director Richard Stursberg’s surprising defection to the CBC partway through his five-year mandate has left the federal funding agency and the rest of the Canadian film and television sector slack-jawed and mired in speculation.

While on the campaign trail for the Toronto mayoralty, David Miller had a film crew following him every step of the way, shooting a documentary for CBC Newsworld about his unlikely run for City Hall. He drew up strategies and policies with his aides while on camera, fumed at his opponents, and waved his personal emblem, a broom, before crowds of cheering supporters. Eight months and one surprise win later, the city’s seventieth mayor says the experience taught him a few things about movies.

The Montreal World Film Festival got a swift kick in the shins from Telefilm Canada and SODEC on July 27 when both funders released a year-long study of the country’s four major film festivals, citing poor attendance at the annual fete and coming down hard on its lack of organization and poor relations with filmmakers.

Two weeks before Prime Minister Paul Martin’s July 20 unveiling of his new cabinet, Liza Frulla wasn’t even sure she would win her seat because of a close race with Thierry St-Cyr of the Bloc Quebecois. However, a July 6 recount in her Montreal riding of Jeanne-Le Ber proclaimed her the winner by 72 votes.

Vancouver: Facing a dwindling budget, British Columbia Film has gone back to the innovation well and come up with its Slate Development Fund, a new program, the first of its kind in Canada, that will provide support for the development and marketing of film and TV projects, handing over a three-year envelope of up to $225,000 to between six and 10 B.C.-based producers this year.

Despite being among nine new non-Canadian satellite services approved by the CTRC on July 15, it looks like the Arabic-language news service Al-Jazeera, out of Qatar, will not be hitting Canadian airwaves anytime soon.

More than half of the 22 new shows that will debut on Corus Entertainment’s children’s television stations in the fall are homegrown productions.

Canadians look to figure prominently at the 56th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, with about 50 cited as the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced this year’s nominees on July 15 in Hollywood.

In 2003, the Canadian media and entertainment industry grew at a faster rate than in any other global region included in the fifth edition of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Entertainment and Media Outlook 2004-2008. The global study measures 14 major industry segments across five regions: the U.S., EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Canada.

* Paul Gratton has been appointed VP of independent production within CHUM Television’s independent production unit. Gratton will remain as VP for Bravo!, and VP and GM of Space: The Imagination Station and Drive-In Classics in addition to his new responsibilities.

Ottawa: ‘Blended tax credits’ may sound like a dream cocktail to a Bay Street financial advisor, but the phrase resonates best with the beleaguered production community of Ottawa-Gatineau, where producers are lately seeing renewed interest in the concept from both the Ontario and Quebec governments. That’s encouraging because, while qualified workers live on both sides of this unique cross-border region, employment and tax laws make it difficult or impossible for a production company based in one province to source staff from both and retain their full complement of provincial tax credits.