BANFF – While Shelly Glover, our Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, hasn’t spoken publicly to or about the industry very much since her appointment last July, (we at Cartt.ca would love to know what she thinks of the challenges ahead of CBC, for example), she was pretty darn interesting in her first Banff World Media Fest speech.
First of all, she's an at-ease former cop, a motorcycle mama, comfortably bilingual, with an aboriginal granddad, and loves the hot Radio-Canada TV series Unite 9 along with Game of Thrones. Plus, she's also enamoured of the media and the arts portfolio, about which she quipped, "I hope my Cabinet colleagues don't find out how much fun I'm having".
Second, the Minister was articulate in defending and promoting PM Stephen Harper's priorities for the TV business; complete with eloquent spin and the unspoken shortcomings that had many in the audience mumbling – politely as usual…
Third, those priorities are: a) going to lots of meetings and supporting Canadian broadcasters, producers and creators; b) following through on The Throne Speech promise to give consumers unbundled channel choice which is affordable and diverse while protecting Canadian jobs; and c) pursuing new and more modern international co-production treaties to build on the partnerships available to Canadians and generate in excess of the $5.8 billion in domestic audio-visual product already attributed to said treaties.
Glover had a good grip on the metrics too (most of which are available on The Canada Media Fund website): There are 128,000 jobs at stake in our sector, more than in Canada's forestry business; we are now third in the world when it comes to online and video games; the most recent Cannes festivities were a huge success for Canada; and all of this is made largely possible by the investment of over $600 million per year from the federal government in taxpayer dues.
While the Minister did not spend much time boostering CBC/Radio-Canada, she did emphasize the achievements of Telefilm Canada, the NFB/ONF, the Canada Media Fund, and the Canada Council.
On the CMF, she noted that for every $1 invested we get $3 of impact and this has meant $1.1 billion of production since 2010, plus 80,000+ hours of new Canadian content. Indeed, our international co-productions now number 681 with $5 billion in aggregate value – and next up is a new treaty deal with India set to come into effect this July 1st (Canada Day, nice touch).
While Minister Glover is a partisan player, my sense is she's not bullshitting us. She may be a belated champion of arts and culture – but she openly acknowledges that this sector represents $50 billion/year for our economy along with 630,000 jobs – more than manufacturing, which claims so many of the headlines.
And while she frames PM Harper as "the only G7 leader to not cut artists during the recession, instead he preserved arts and culture", my sense is that private and independent Canadian screen media have in her a politician we can talk to and educate. Of course, the proof will be in that proverbial pudding. For example, what more is in store for our national public broadcaster?
But while many of the provinces and territories are reviewing tax credits with a mind to curb them, the Prime Minister did make permanent in his 2014 budget such resources as the Canada Media Fund and the Canada Music Fund.
Lastly, after 35 years Canada is still a colourful paradox of red carpets and red tape, but when asked about her Liberal-red suit jacket on Sunday, Glover shared that it was her way of recalling Canada's military sacrifices and the 70th anniversary of D-Day.
Then when queried on her most likely TV doppelgänger, she cited "Law & Order: Special Victim's Unit" fictional character Olivia Benson. "What Olivia has to face in the show to get the right things done, is sort of what brought me to politics in the first place,” Glover says.
These might have been props but I doubt it.
And so this Minister deserves the opportunity to now show her true stuff in prime time national politics.
Hey, isn't there a federal election next year?
Bill Roberts is covering the Banff World Media Festival for Cartt.ca.
