TORONTO — ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) are adding their voices to the chorus of content creators who are calling for Bill C-10, which aims to amend the Broadcasting Act, to be passed.
“Following a week of debate amongst Canadian Heritage Committee members about Bill C-10, an Act to amend the Broadcasting Act, ACTRA is now urging all parties to put politics aside and pass Bill C-10,” reads a press release released today by ACTRA.
“The Broadcasting Act in its current form is outdated. It does not reflect the modern digital era and continues to put Canadian creators and broadcasters at a disadvantage,” said ACTRA national president David Sparrow, in the release. “Bill C-10 is an overdue but positive first step in modernizing our broadcasting system — one that will benefit Canadian culture, our economy and our creators.”
“While ACTRA was pleased to see Canadian democracy at work over the past week with members of Canada’s Heritage Committee holding a healthy debate about the Bill, it is time for all parties to work together to pass this much-need legislation as soon as possible,” says ACTRA’s release.
In a statement released on Twitter this afternoon, the WGC says “Canada stands to lose its next two generations of storytellers,” if Bill C-10 is not
enacted.
“The second-largest membership group of the WGC now resides in Los Angeles for want of significant opportunity to make Canadian-written television series in Canada,” reads the WGC’s statement.
According to the WGC, there has been “a massive decrease” in the number of Canadian-written shows in the last several years. “[I]n fact, the volume of Canadian-created series has fallen by more than 50% since 2017,” says the WGC.
“We’ve worked for the last 15 years to get this bill introduced,” says WGC executive director Maureen Parker, in the statement. “We’ve researched, studied, lobbied, written letters of support for this needed update to the Broadcasting Act. And now, people are choosing to play politics with our creators’ futures and our culture.
“Enough. We need to get this bill passed now,” adds Parker. “Americans will be the only ones telling our stories, if we don’t.”
For those who need to catch up, here’s some of Cartt.ca’s recent coverage of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage’s review of Bill C-10:
C-10 on hold until new Charter statement arrives
C-10: New amendment, same battle
C-10: More debate about social media regulation, or not
