Vol. XXXI, No: 1 September 11, 2008 - Vol. XXXI, No: 2
If you don’t pick up this issue of the newspaper...
then the terrorists win We at the newspaper care about your emotions. So we pledge not to shamelessly manipulate them with gratuitous 9-11 material. Cheers!
Bill me later Controversial bill now in limbo JEROME PAUL Cultural News Bureau One wonders if the amount of material already written about Bill C-10 would surpass even the hefty 568 page tome itself, all of which now lies in a legal limbo. Of course, it isn’t the entire Bill that has created such an uproar among film and television industry professionals, as well as activists, media, and according to a recent poll, 52 per cent of the public. Clause A-2 in section 120 would ostensibly allow the Heritage Minister to withdraw tax credits from film and television productions deemed “contrary to public policy”. The Bill passed through the House of Commons late last year without much fanfare, but was land-locked in a Senate Standing committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce since December 2007. The media began to pick up on the story in February, and since then Liberal Senate members and Canadian entertainment figures such as Sandra Oh, Gordon Pinsent, Robert Lantos, David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley have condemned the Bill, calling it an assault on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In one CBC interview, Polley said that we already have guidelines in place for regulating content and funding: “it’s called the Criminal Code... Every work
of art is subject to it when it is publicly funded...There are so many checks and balances already in place through Telefilm, the CTF and the Criminal Code that I think it is redundant and sets a very dangerous precedent to have it that close to government policy.” Steve Waddell, executive director of ACTRA has succinctly stated that “withholding public funding for film and television productions it deems offensive is a dangerous direction for this government that smacks of censorship”. Josée Verner responded to the allegations by saying that the policy “ensures that the government has the ability, in exceptional circumstances, to exclude certain material from public support. There is material that is potentially illegal under the Criminal Code, such as indecent material, hate propaganda, and child pornography. Currently, no provision in the Income Tax Act or regulations exclude such material. Bill C-10 addresses this loophole, in particular.” The most vehement supporters of the Bill - the Federal Conservative party, religious lobbyists like Charles McVety and groups such as Canadians Concerned about Violence in Entertainment and REAL Women of Canada - deny that it is in any way a Continued on page 8...