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Will the Tories blink on Bill C-10?

Canada’s glitterati are raising an army to stop changes to the federal film tax credits. Will it work?

Matthew Johnston - June 1, 2008

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) announced Saturday from Quebec City that it will oppose Bill C-10 and recommend that the government consult with the film industry about provisions in the legislation that it says would “negatively impact on the financing of film productions.”

Bill C-10 would deny tax credits to Canadian film and video productions that are considered offensive to the Heritage minister and that contain messages and themes that are contrary to government public policy.

In a press release, the FCM explained the reasons for its opposition to the proposed legislation:

“The amendments proposed provide the Minister of Heritage Canada with the discretionary power to withdraw, once the film is completed, the tax credits already agreed upon for the film. The major production centres of this industry in Canada are Vancouver, Toronto, Montréal and Halifax and they would be affected by such a measure.”

Elected representatives from each of these film industry centres will be in appearing before a Senate committee next week to make their case. The entourage will include Toronto Mayor Miller, Vancouver Mayor Sullivan, Montreal Councillor Claude Dauphin and Halifax Mayor Kelly.

The Senate has already heard from Canadian film celebrities like Oscar nominee Sarah Polley and director David Cronenberg, who are campaigning actively against the proposed legislation, bringing a seemingly innocuous amendment to the Income Tax Act, buried in a 560-page omnibus bill, into the national spotlight.

As a consequence of this campaigning, Bill C-10 is being held up in the Senate, after passing easily through the debate and committee stages of the House of Commons. Opposition in the Senate is being led in part by Alberta Senator and musician Tommy Banks, who calls the bill “dangerous censorship.” The Liberal dominated Senate could propose amendments to Bill C-10, but Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says he’ll treat any such move as a confidence matter that would trigger a general election.

Senators like Banks don’t seem to be backing down from this election threat. They are still holding committee meetings to hear from the growing number of opponents of the bill – and, in a column in the Calgary Herald, Banks responded to the election threat with a dismissive and cryptic one word answer: ”OK.”

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