By Connie Thiessen
Mark Carney was sworn in as Canada’s 24th Prime Minister on Friday morning, along with a new, leaner cabinet of 23 ministers.
Among other changes, Steven Guilbeault is out as Environment minister and reassigned as Minister of Canadian Culture and Identity, and Parks Canada, in addition to serving as Carney’s Quebec Lieutenant. Guilbeault previously served as Canadian Heritage minister from Nov. 2019 to Oct. 2021. Quebec MP Pascale St-Onge, who is not reoffering in the coming federal election, had held the portfolio since July 2023.
Canada Media Fund (CMF) President and CEO Valerie Creighton welcomed Guilbeault on his…
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Canadian Heritage has announced the appointment of Dominique Lapierre to Telefilm Canada’s board of directors.
Lapierre’s appointment was made Feb. 28 by Order in Council. Her five-year term will start June 1, 2025.
Based in Montreal, Lapierre is currently the executive director of Théâtre de la Ville, a position she has held since 2021.
A law graduate from McGill University, she has a long association with Telefilm. She first joined the audiovisual funding organization in 2002 as legal counsel for the feature film unit, and was promoted in 2006 to the position of deputy director of…
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Advocacy groups for Canadian film, TV and media production companies are applauding Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge’s recently released set of proposed changes to modernize the mandate, funding and governance of CBC/Radio-Canada.
The proposed amendments range from prohibiting advertising during CBC/Radio-Canada’s news and public affairs programming and ending subscription fees for its digital services to establishing predictable and stable funding via a statutory appropriation based on an annual per capita formula.
In a statement released Saturday, the Quebec English-language Production Council (QEPC), speaking on behalf of the official language minority community (OLMC) film and TV production industry…
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By Connie Thiessen
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge has released a set of proposed changes aimed at modernizing the objectives, governance and funding of CBC/Radio-Canada, ranging from banishing advertising during news and current affairs programming to ensuring more citizen participation in determining the public broadcaster’s priorities.
The proposed amendments to the Broadcasting Act were released Thursday, with a goal “to reinforce the accountability and reactivity of the Corporation toward Canadians, to ensure its journalistic, creative and programming independence, to strengthen its role as public broadcaster, and to provide it with predictable and stable funding so that it can face future challenges.”
Stable…
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A new report from the Quebec English-language Production Council (QEPC), an industry association that promotes English-language film and television production in Quebec, shows that while the annual volume of film and TV production within Canada’s official language minority community (OLMC) in Quebec is recovering from the Covid-19 downturn, it continues to face challenges.
Co-authored by the QEPC and consulting firm Nordicity, the Canadian Audiovisual Regional Production Report 1996-97 to 2022-23 is a 27-year quantitative study that examines national and regional production trends across Canada, focusing on OLMC production in Quebec. It is an updated analysis of the previous edition…
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Public broadcaster says it will hire up to 30 new journalists
CBC News announced Wednesday it will hire up to 30 new permanent journalists in 22 underserved communities across Canada, following the CRTC’s approval of Google’s plan to compensate Canadian news organization for use of their content.
Google has committed to providing a $100-million fund to host news content from news organizations across Canada, allowing it to be exempted under the Online News Act. CBC, which obtains funding from both private and public sources, is allowed to draw up to a maximum of seven per…
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Responding to a petition sponsored by Conservative MP James Bezan asking the federal government to recover all taxpayer funds spent on the production of the controversial documentary Russians at War, the Canadian government via the minister of Canadian Heritage has said concerns about the Canada Media Fund’s support for the project should be directed to the CMF.
The petition, which garnered 3,047 signatures before closing on Oct. 17, was presented to the House of Commons by Bezan on Oct. 21. The federal government tabled its response Dec. 4.
“It is important to note that as a…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A group of creatives sent a letter last week to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the relevant cabinet ministers requesting that the government include in its fall economic statement a doubling of Canada Media Fund’s stabilization subsidy to $85 million and make permanent a $30-million annual commitment to its equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) initiatives.
The letter, addressed to Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge and seen by Cartt, states that the CMF’s EDIA initiatives – backed by a $20 million per year injection over three years from the 2020 federal budget –…
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By Ahmad Hathout
A paper petition calling on the federal government to prop up local radio and television news after a string of layoffs in the industry has been presented to the House of Commons on Wednesday.
The petition, which was carried by Kingston Liberal MP Mark Gerretsen, is asking that government to extend the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit to include radio and television; dedicate 70 per cent of federal government advertising dollars on local radio, TV, print and digital media; and eliminate tax-deductions for advertising purchased on foreign-owned, internet-delivered media sites and services.
“The abrupt departures of radio and television…
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Heritage policy advisor expressed concern over ‘integrity of CAVCO’s administration,’ application alleges
Update: On May 8, 2025, the movie producer discontinued this application.
By Ahmad Hathout
A Canadian movie producer is asking the Federal Court to look into whether Canadian Heritage arbitrarily rejected its tax credit application.
Paige Darcy Productions Inc., which had been created for the sole purpose of producing the movie Paige Darcy and the Case of the Stoned Cat, claims in its judicial review application dated November 6 that Heritage’s Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) denied its application based on concerns about how it funds its production, despite not raising…
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