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Editorial: Hidden agenda of Canada’s culture cops
Coming soon to a theater near you . . .
Hope & Chastity — Two Abbotsford teens set out on a quest to preach the virtues of abstinence.
Guns and Moses — A musical about Canada’s gun registry.
700 B.C. — A documentary about dinosaurs narrated by Stockwell Day.
Hidden in a 500-page document called Bill C-10 that’s awaiting Senate approval, the Conservative government is seeking to empower a pack of faceless bureaucrats to determine what type of films are suitable for tax credits.
Tax credits are a major lifeline for Canada’s movie industry and trigger financing from banks and investors.
Under the proposed law, moonlighting government critics will determine if tax credits should be given to cinematic productions, after they are made.
The move helps accommodate the mores and mindset of Christian activist, Charles McVety, president of the 40,000-member Canadian Family Action Coalition.
McVety led the charge against public money being spent on “offensive” productions, and before you could say “cut,” Ottawa has moved to seek powers to deny tax credits for films it deems are not in the public interest.
The film tax credit ammendment in Bill C-10 is a political agenda masquerading as public policy.
It is about content alignment with ruling values and the sanitizing of public discourse.
It has little to do with sound movie making or listening to the will of the people.
It is about a hidden agenda.
The movie industry is aghast at the Tory move, calling it a violation of Charter rights, a choke on artistic freedom and a potentially devastating blow to film financing in Canada.
The likes of McVety say that is nonsensical and Bill C-10 has nothing to do with censorship, but is about making sure your money is used wisely.
The government agrees, saying the goal of the bill is to reassure the public about how taxpayers’ money is spent.
But the government appears incapable — or unwilling — to discuss why and why now, giving rise to suspicions about the motives behind Bill C-10.
When you scrutinize the section that is sparking this uproar, you will find that the government is trying to fix a problem that does not exist.
The policy change is contained in an amendment that would allow bureaucrats to withdraw tax credits for Canadian films and TV shows deemed in violation of the Criminal Code.
But no filmmaker has ever applied for tax credits for a production that violated the Criminal Code or contained criminal content.
Further, there is a myriad of rules already in place to ensure every production that receives government funding is subject to a provincial screening, broadcaster rules and codes, rating systems and accountability to the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council.
By trying to tackle a problem that does not exist, the government is creating a very real problem for the Canadian movie industry — censorship by stealth.
It’s also creating a very real problem for itself.
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