OTTAWA – The federal government today announced an $49 million increase to the short-term compensation fund (STCF) for Canadian audiovisual productions which it set up in 2020 to help producers, actors, musicians and the like to get through the Covid crisis.
The additional funds will bring the STCF’s coverage capacity to $149 million until March 31, 2022. Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and Telefilm executive director Christa Dickenson made the announcement during the virtual Canadian Screen Awards yesterday.
The new money will “allow more productions to make use of the program to meet their shooting schedules, particularly in the sector’s busiest seasons…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – After three meetings that interrupted the clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-10, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage got back to work Wednesday afternoon but did not advance at a pace that would suggest that the bill will get out of committee anytime soon.
The amendment discussed today was proposed by the government and announced previously by Minister Guilbeault. It was supposed to correct the impression that the removal of Section 4.1 was an attack on the freedom of expression, the impression that the CRTC would be given power to somehow regulate user generated content. The amendment,…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – Experts designated by each party visited the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on Monday to further discussing Bill C-10, the legislation which aims to modernize the Broadcasting Act.
The work of the committee has been at a standstill since April 30, and today’s discussion, which was often centred around freedom of expression and whether C-10 will impact what Canadians post on social media, gave little hope that the clause-by-clause consideration process, which should be the bulk of the committee’s work at this stage would resume anytime soon.
The experts are well known: Michael Geist, Canada research chair…
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By Denis Carmel
OTTAWA – During its May 10th meeting, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage Committee all agreed to invite the Ministers of Canadian Heritage and Justice to its next meeting, once a revised Charter statement on Bill C-10’s conformity with the Canadian Charter of Rights would be produced, and to suspend the clause-by-clause consideration of the bill until that happened.
Well, the Charter statement was produced, it said the partly examined C-10 is just fine, and the Minister of Canadian Heritage showed up for questioning on Friday. However, the Minister of Justice, David Lametti turned down his…
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But we have a question about “unaffiliated users”
By Greg O’Brien
OTTAWA – On the day before Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault and senior members of the federal Department of Justice face the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to talk about Bill C-10, Heritage officials have released the new Charter statement, which says, in a nutshell, it’s fine.
Those following the C-10 saga over the past two weeks will recall the committee removed a section of the proposed bill, s. 4.1, which originally exempted social media companies from broadcasting regulation under the new Broadcasting Act, should C-10, which aims to amend that Act,…
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TORONTO — The fourth season of the award-winning series Employable Me, which features job seekers determined to show that having a physical disability or neurological condition shouldn’t make them unemployable, will premiere June 9 on AMI-tv, the broadcaster announced today.
Seasons one, two and three of the series previously captured Rockie Awards for best lifestyle program at the Banff World Media Festival. In addition, season three won a Diversify TV Excellence Award at MIPCOM in the representation of disability, non-scripted category in 2020.
Produced by Thomas Howe Associates, season four of Employable Me (six episodes x 60 minutes) provides “an honest…
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TORONTO — Music rights management organization SOCAN announced today 24 Canadian visionaries will be recognized at this year’s SOCAN Awards for the roles they played in helping to raise the stature of music made in Canada.
“Fifty years ago, they understood the need to protect and amplify Canadian music, giving rise to Cancon. These trailblazers will be awarded the SOCAN Guardian Award for their efforts in preserving and boosting Canadian culture,” reads SOCAN’s press release.
At a time when home-grown music was often considered inferior to foreign records dominating the charts, making it difficult for Canadian artists to get airtime on…
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Will hear from Lametti, Guilbeault, expert panel on amended bill
By Christopher Guly
OTTAWA – Following some back-and-forth from members of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on a motion introduced last Friday regarding the Bill C-10 review, consensus was reached on Monday to invite Justice Minister David Lametti and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault to appear before the group as early as Friday, with Members of Parliament on the committee to hear from an expert panel as soon as Monday.
Saskatchewan Conservative MP Kevin Waugh proposed amending Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather’s motion seeking a revised Charter statement…
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Siphoning hundreds of millions from them for Cancon will give streamers leverage over government and regulators
By Len St-Aubin
THE GOVERNMENT SAYS Bill C-10 is part of a plan to rein in web giants by making them pay their “fair share” when it comes to Canadian culture. That’s their story, and Heritage Minister Steven Guilbeault is sticking to it.
But you have to wonder, at what cost? Extracting up to 30% of revenues generated in Canada from the likes of YouTube (Google), Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Spotify et al, and subjecting them to outdated, unnecessarily intrusive CRTC regulation, what’s the “quid-pro-quo”?
There’s…
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COMMUNITY MEDIA’S LOW-COST participatory model has the potential to address both the crisis in local news and information, and the proliferation of fake news. Yet this sector has been relegated to a sidebar in discussions to reform Canada’s broadcasting system.
When Paul Manly of the Green Party and others recently put forward an amendment to clarify that community media Is not-for-profit, it was rejected by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
The concern raised was that giving recognition to “not-for-profit” community broadcasting might somehow imperil giant for-profit cable and satellite corporations.
The 1991 Broadcast Act recognizes three distinct elements: private, public…
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