TORONTO – Industry organizations ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) and WGC (Writer’s Guild of Canada) were quick to denounce the Nova Scotia provincial government’s budget that slashed the film and television production tax credit and shuttered Film and Creative Industries Nova Scotia, the province’s film commission.
According to ACTRA, Nova Scotia’s film and television production sector generated more than $140 million in economic activity in 2014 and was responsible for generating over 2,000 jobs in the prior year. This success is bolstered, in part, by the Nova Scotia Film Industry Tax Credit which helps offset the labour costs in the province and is an effective instrument in attracting international production to the region as well as local production and storytelling, the organization continued.
ACTRA national president Ferne Downey called the changes “a short sighted decision that will come back to haunt this government”.
“The government’s handling of this file has been a failure from the start,” Downey said in a statement. “They failed the production sector, they failed the people who will lose their jobs as a result of these changes and, by implementing all this on July 1st, they’ve failed to understand even the very basics of how our industry works. Applying these changes during the height of production season will chase potential projects, looking for a location right now, out of the province in search of a stable tax credit regime that meets their needs. The government needs to fix the mess they’ve created before the damage to the sector is irreversible.”
The WGC said that the decision to cut the Film Industry Tax Credit essentially reduces its value by 75%, meaning that portion of the credit is unlikely to be available for financing production, as tax credits are typically used for. Noting that the province commissioned a tax and regulatory review that recommended aligning the Nova Scotia tax credit with those of other jurisdictions, such as Ontario, the organization added the plan “appears to fly in the face of that recommendation”.
“It’s shocking that our provincial Liberal government would eviscerate the film tax credit as they did today,” said Michael Amo, screenwriter and WGC Atlantic region councilor, in a statement. “They have essentially crippled an entire industry without prior consultation, and in violation of their own election promise. As screenwriters and filmmakers in this province, how can we tell our stories to Nova Scotians and to the world if there’s no longer any local film and television industry?”
