Inside Out

By Rebecca Schechter, President, Writers Guild of Canada

“Be afraid. Be very afraid.”

Lobbying politicians isn’t as scary as I thought it would be when I first became WGC president. Mostly they’re… well… politicians. They want you to like them and even if they don’t agree with you, they’re cordial. Friendly even. A smile and a handshake and off you go. Mostly you have to read between the lines to figure out whether your message is sinking in or being swatted away like an annoying mosquito. You have to wait and see what the government actually does–like create CTF, for example, which Liberal Heritage Minister Sheila Copps did in 1996, which now supports most indigenous television programming.

In September, WGC Executive Director, Maureen Parker, our industrial relations/policy consultant Kelly Lynn Ashton and me went on a lobbying trip to Ottawa. Our first attempt to lobby the new Conservative government. The highlight of the two days was our meeting with Minister of Heritage Bev Oda. It took us months to get the meeting and when we arrived at her office, Minister Oda made it clear she only had twenty minutes for us in her busy schedule.

So we got quickly to CTF–always part of our message in Ottawa. We let all the pols know how important CTF is for the industry and this time around we’re asking for the government contribution (about half of the fund comes from levies on the cable companies) to increase.

Minister Oda’s response was a bit chilling, not so much because of what she said but because of what she didn’t say. She didn’t say she was going to fight in cabinet for CTF to be renewed in the next budget, even though CTF expires on March 31, 2007. Instead, she said that the government was reviewing the “governance” of CTF in accordance with the mandate of the Auditor General. She didn’t say: We’re reviewing the governance structure and if we don’t like it we’ll fix it. Which would assume the Conservatives intend to renew CTF, possibly with a new board. She said nothing about its renewal.

A few days after we came back from Ottawa, the government announced the death by a billion cuts of many programs they deem to be running poorly or of no use to the Canadian people. When I saw the headline about the cuts I quickly turned to the inside page of the paper, held my breath and scanned the list of cut programs. Why? Because I was afraid CTF or Telefilm might be on the list. Because it seemed clear from our visit to Ottawa that both CTF and Telefilm may not survive under this government. (Telefilm requires a new five-year plan commencing in 2007.) The problem is that at heart, the Conservatives don’t believe government should support culture.

Lobbying this government involves a sort of sleight of hand. You emphasize that artists are small-business people. Entrepreneurs. You talk about how many jobs are generated by our industry. How good it is for the tax base to have a vibrant film and TV sector. Not that all of this isn’t true. Or important. But you eventually get around to the heart of the message… that Canadians need to see themselves represented in popular culture, that a people inundated by messages from Hollywood will slowly but surely adapt to the American world they see and take on the values, aspirations and fears of our neighbor to the south. That’s when you feel the room cool, you read between the lines and flit away like the mosquito you know you are.

Go ahead. Accuse me of falling victim to the American culture of fear, but right now, I’d say everyone in this industry should be afraid. Very afraid. All of the programs and supports we depend on are at risk. Our livelihoods are in jeopardy. Our culture is in jeopardy. Our identity is in jeopardy. The only thing that may save us this year is that it’s a minority government. But next year, if there’s a Conservative majority, watch out.