In a week our audiovisual industry has made significant gains, but will they be enough to protect our assets?
The additional amounts just announced by the Ottawa and Quebec budgets are more than welcome. Without our cultural industries, especially television and cinema, the survival of French in Quebec and even more so in Canada would be quite uncertain. It seems that both our governments have understood this. It’s not too early.
Last week, following the presentation of the provincial budget, Minister of Culture and Communications Mathieu Lacombe announced that $649.4 million over five years will be dedicated exclusively to the promotion of French and culture. On Tuesday, it was Pablo Rodriguez’s turn, Minister of Cultural Heritage, to let his government take budgetary measures that encourage French influence.
THE LION’S SHARE
The audiovisual industry is the big winner of this budget ‘week’. Minister Lacombe increased SODEC’s budget to 200 million. Although the organization also supports crafts, publishing, music and shows, the audiovisual sector gets the lion’s share. Télé-Québec’s budget, which hasn’t changed in a quarter of a century, will now be $101 million a year for the next five years. It’s an absolute minimum.
At the federal level, the Canada Media Fund will receive an additional $40 million over two years. Most of that sum – up to 37 million, it seems – would go towards French production.
Since Ms. Hélène Messier has been its CEO, the Quebec Association for Media Production (AQPM) has not stopped campaigning for the amounts allocated to the Media Fund to be split 60/40 between Anglophones and Francophones. Traditionally, the split has always been 2/3-1/3, although Francophones make up only a quarter of Canada’s population.
The AQPM was quite proud of having managed to get this new 60/40 split into the Liberal Party’s manifesto. The liberal promise sparked an outcry in English Canada. Former heritage ministers such as James Moore (Conservative) and Sheila Copps (Liberal) have spoken out against it. Raynolds Mastin, CEO of the CMPA (the Association of English Language Producers), suggested that a new percentage would only be acceptable if “a lot, a lot more money” was given to the media, though without specifying the amount.
ENEMY GIANTS
As a precaution – and certainly also politically wise – the amount allocated to the media fund in the last budget would have nothing to do with a departure from the traditional 2/3-1/3 percentages. The budget does not provide for additional money for telefilm. For its part, the National Film Board will receive an additional 10 million over two years. A way to recognize the NFB’s interest in Aboriginal culture.
One day the digital giants’ contribution to our broadcasting system (estimated at around 800 million per year) will almost alone be able to ensure the sustainability of our television and cinema. For now, your worst enemies are precisely these giants, whose resources are almost unlimited. However, their infinite repertoire is so limited when it comes to French-language productions that the existence of these giants weakens our culture a little more every day.
