The final gala of the Prix Ecrans, broadcast on CBC Sunday night, is an excellent example of ‘happy colonization’.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a gala, but excerpts from the various “highlights” of “Canadian Screen Week”, a festival week of English-language television and Canadian cinema. This painful “canned program” is a real insult to the artists and craftsmen of television in English Canada.
The hour-long special would almost support Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre in shutting down the tall building on Front Street in Toronto. I also wonder if the salvation of English-language television might not lie in getting the CBC out of Toronto, where it seems the only horizon for English-language artists is New York or Los Angeles.
We chose Samantha Bee, a naturalized American actress from Toronto who has lived in New York for 20 years, as the cicero of this television mess animated by the most boring elevator music. I’m not sure she even deigned to travel all the way to Toronto to host a gala that began with a sketch of hackneyed jokes about Toronto. It continued with Canadian artists who were fortunate enough to make careers in the United States. We are colonized or we are not!
PIERRE BRUNEAU WAS IN!
At one point we see Lisa LaFlamme being crowned the best news anchor in the country. Then, in his traditionally tailored suit, our dear Pierre Bruneau, honored for his entire career. But you had to be careful not to miss them.
What do you want, neither Lisa nor Pierre in their long careers managed to rise to the level of Americans.
Catherine O’Hara, star of the ‘Sitcom’ Schitt’s Creek, has been named an ‘Icon of the Academy’. It is the equivalent of the person receiving the Grand Prix from the Academy of Cinema and Television in Quebec. Who do you think interviewed Mrs. O’Hara on this occasion? Hey! yes, none other than Amy Poehler, an American actress and director who was part of the Saturday Night Live crew for several seasons. We are colonized or we are not!
The Globe & Mail has the reputation of being Canada’s most informed daily newspaper, but you might doubt that when you read the list of the 25 most influential Canadians in the industry.
Eager to do its part to promote television, the newspaper published the list of the 25 television people it believes to be the most influential in Canada a few days before the gala.
WHERE ARE THE QUEBECERS?
As it should be, first and second place, if I may say so, were automatically awarded to the Minister for Heritage, Pablo Rodriguez, and to the CEO of the Media Fund, Valérie Creighton.
It goes without saying, because this department and this organization provides hundreds of millions to the industry every year. Without them, Canadian television as we know it would not exist.
Where we can really question the seriousness of this list is that it only includes one Quebecer despite being a couple: Sophie Lorain and Alexis Durand-Brault. You find yourself in 16th place. But that glorious list includes Canadian representatives from Netflix, Disney, and Prime Video. We are colonized or we are not!
