The Globe and Mail<\/i> has two new stories on Bill C-10<\/a>, the proposed revision to the Income Tax Act that would allow the government to deny tax credits to Canadian films deemed \u201coffensive\u201d after they have already gone into production.<\/span><\/p>\n First, there is this comment by John Doyle<\/a>:<\/p>\n It\u2019s news to me that Canada is a Christian Evangelical country. The other evening, while consuming a few measures of dry sherry I felt inspired to contact God and, it turns out, it\u2019s news to Him, too. In fact, God told me Himself that He\u2019s a Trailer Park Boys<\/a><\/i> kinda guy. He loves it. People who aren\u2019t rich or successful getting along, taking care of each other, being tolerant of foibles and idiocy, and being kind to kitties. He doesn\u2019t have a problem with the swearing. He\u2019s heard worse.<\/p>\n God also pointed out that Stock Day, who is in constant touch with Him, is also a Trailer Park Boys<\/i> kinda guy. He even had his photo taken with the Boys in Ottawa a few weeks ago. This was indeed a riddle. And then God moseyed off to brood on Darfur, so He was too busy to explain.<\/p>\n It eventually occurred to me, the day after, when the dry sherry was all gone, what the Conservatives\u2019 problem with culture might be. It\u2019s not about moralizing. It\u2019s not genuine fear of a moral abdication through the media of film and television. It\u2019s not even righteous anger.<\/p>\n It\u2019s social fury. A fury that the hipsters, not the frat boys, are having the real fun. A fury that it\u2019s no longer easy to figure out what\u2019s wrong and exploitive. A fury that what was once dismissed as the exploitation of women is now deemed empowering of women. A fury that the lines keep shifting in the matter of defining what\u2019s acceptable to the majority of Canadians. A fury that people have different tastes. A fury that taste is not something that can be defined by a parliamentary committee, not even if somebody in direct contact with God has had a word with the parliamentary committee. A fury that in Canada, the upholding of tolerance is more important than the definition of taste. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And then, there is this satire piece by Rick Mercer<\/a>, written in the form of a letter from Prime Minister Stephen Harper to his fellow Conservatives:<\/p>\n As you no doubt have heard, we are now fixing the criteria for tax credits for Canadian movies and TV shows. From now on, we can simply deny tax credits to productions if we find them obscene or in any way personally offensive to our way of life. I see the future, my friends, and it stars Anne of Green Gables. . . .<\/p>\n So, on top of running the country, we have to watch all these God-forsaken Canadian movies. Who knew there were so many?<\/p>\n Today, we screened a new movie, something called the Trailer Park Boys<\/i>. Poor Stockwell, he had a seizure during the opening credits and began to hyperventilate into a brown paper bag.<\/p>\n My friends, cutting off tax credits and probably bankrupting a company is not a decision I make lightly; luckily this film is made by a company in Atlantic Canada, so it\u2019s okay. This Trailer Park<\/i> business just reinforces my belief that the region is mired in a culture of defeat. As I said to Chuck Strahl, our Minister of Indian Affairs, instead of glorifying drugs and violence they should simply make a nice show like The Forest Rangers<\/i>. Chuck agreed: \u201cYou got that right boss, that Bubbles is no Joe Two Rivers.\u201d You can see why I trust Chuck so much.<\/p>\n Helena Guergis, Secretary of State for sport, had a good idea that could save the production. \u201cWhy not add a talking car,\u201d she said, \u201clike Herbie the love bug?\u201d Helena loves Herbie. She said Herbie goes to Monte Carlo<\/a><\/i> was her favourite movie.<\/p>\n This horrified poor Stockwell. Throwing his panic bag aside, he shouted that such behaviour in a Volkswagen clearly indicated that Herbie was possessed by Satan. He told us the only thing that would fix that Love bug was a run through a carwash of holy water. This led Peter MacKay to inform us that when he was in university, a \u201clove bug\u201d meant that it hurt when you peed. Peter goes too far sometimes. He tortures Stockwell any chance he can get. Those two are always at it; if it\u2019s not arguing over how best to proceed in the Middle East, it\u2019s who looks better in fatigues.<\/p>\n Anyway, we decided that the Trailer Park<\/i> movie could be saved, but only if all the scenes involving drugs, sex, guns and premarital sex were removed. Looks like it comes in at two and a half minutes now. The only thing left are shots of Bubbles and his kittens. I wish more people would make movies that are about kittens or puppies or rabbits. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n For those who don\u2019t recognize the reference, Trailer Park Boys: The Movie<\/i> (2006) is based on a hit TV show and happens to be one of the more successful English-Canadian films ever made, in box-office terms. Speaking of which, this other story<\/a> in yesterday\u2019s Globe and Mail<\/i> looks at some of the good news and bad news coming out of this year\u2019s Genie Awards<\/a>:<\/p>\n Things are good because three of the five films up for best picture \u2013 Away from Her<\/a><\/i>, Eastern Promises<\/a><\/i> and L\u2019\u00e2ge des t\u00e9n\u00e8bres<\/a><\/i> \u2013 earned serious attention at this year\u2019s Academy Awards (in L\u2019\u00e2ge<\/i>\u2018s case as a semi-finalist for best foreign film). Telefilm Canada, which marked its 40th anniversary recently, went so far as to buy a full-page ad in this paper\u2019s Feb. 9 Review section touting its involvement and investment \u2013 almost $4.8-million in production and marketing \u2013 in Eastern Promises<\/i> and Away from Her<\/i>.<\/p>\n Another good thing, at least from the perspective of Telefilm executive director Wayne Clarkson, is that this year\u2019s Genies \u201care wonderfully balanced\u201d between solid anglophone entries (three in total, including Shake Hands with the Devil<\/a><\/i>) and their francophone counterparts (two, including Continental, un film sans fusil<\/i>) for the best picture nod.<\/p>\n This is in sharp distinction to last year when four of the five nominees were for Quebec-originated films and the only non-Quebec candidate was Trailer Park Boys: The Movie<\/i>.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the worst of times because, critical huzzahs aside, it was a dismal year at the box-office for Canadian films. David Cronenberg\u2019s chiller thriller Eastern Promises<\/i> may have earned as much as $50-million world-wide, but only $3.5-million of this came from Canada where, at its peak last fall, the movie was playing on 178 screens.<\/p>\n Similarly, Away from Her<\/i>\u2018s commercial gross was $1.4-million from showing on 28 screens here.<\/p>\n As a result, in 2007, Canadian English-language films earned only 1 per cent of the $729.1-million that English-language movies grossed from Canadian theatres. Certainly this is better than the 0.3 per cent recorded in 2001- but is 1 per cent anyone\u2019s idea of a celebratory moment?<\/p>\n Even Quebec\u2019s French-language cinema sector had a poor year. In 2005, Canadian French-language films had a 26.6 per cent market share. In 2007, it fell to 16.3 per cent, or roughly $21-million on a total box-office of $128.5-million, according to Telefilm numbers.<\/p>\n Twenty-two per cent of this $21-million came courtesy of just one film, the ribald comedy Les trois p\u2019tits cochons, which, with its gross of $4.5-million, reigned as last year\u2019s Canadian box-office champ \u2013 and this without any commercial screenings outside Quebec.<\/p>\n Blend the Qu\u00e9b\u00e9cois market share with that of the English sector and you find the 113 Canadian films released commercially last year accounted for only 3.3 per cent of the hundreds of millions of dollars that Canadians spent going to the movies. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Make of all that whatever you will.<\/p>\n MAR 5 UPDATE: The Globe and Mail<\/i> has two new stories.<\/p>\n First, Gayle MacDonald<\/a> focuses on the fact that it is only home-grown Canadian films \u2014 not<\/i> foreign productions such as the many Hollywood films and TV shows that are produced here \u2014 that are subject to the new proposed scrutiny:<\/p>\n Film director David Weaver (Century Hotel<\/i>, Siblings<\/i>) said yesterday that he finds it preposterous that the Department of Heritage would apply this only to Canadian producers, not to Americans or other foreign parties. \u201cThe message seems to be big-time American producers can come and produce anything they want, but [Ottawa is] going to undermine and perhaps make impossible smaller Canadian productions. It\u2019s outrageously discriminatory.\u201d . . .<\/p>\n Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, agreed that the exemption for foreign productions shooting in Canada \u201cis a strange wrinkle.<\/p>\n \u201cThe whole thing is strange. I\u2019m not a tax lawyer. I\u2019m certainly not a politician. But if this is meant to close a loophole and make sure that obscene or hateful productions don\u2019t get Canadian tax credits, it would seem you should make it universal and cover all productions, not just Canadian ones.\u201d . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n MacDonald also notes that, under the proposed revision to the Income Tax Act, the Canadian producers who are turned down for the tax credit that they usually get might<\/i> be able to apply for another<\/i> tax credit, i.e. the smaller tax credit that the foreign producers usually get. So there may be a bit of a loophole there.<\/p>\n