April 1, 2008
Senator W. David Angus, Chair
Senator Yoine Goldstein, Vice-Chair
Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
The Senate of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A4
via e-mail
Dear Sen. Angus and Sen. Goldstein:
The Canadian Library Association/Association canadienne des
bibliothèques (CLA) is Canada’s largest national library
association, representing the interests of public, academic, school and
special libraries, professional librarians and library workers, and all
those concerned about enhancing the quality of life of Canadians through
access to information and cultural productions. CLA represents the
interests of approximately 57,000 library staff and thousands of
libraries of all kinds across Canada on a range of public policy
issues.
On behalf of CLA, I am writing to express deep concerns about
provisions hidden in Bill C-10, an amendment to the Income Tax
Act passed by the House of Commons in October and now before your
Committee, that represent a major departure from past practice in tax
benefits for Canadian film and television productions.
While the library community is not directly engaged in the production
of motion pictures and television programming, one of the core values of
librarianship is freedom of expression, both nationally and globally,
and therefore advocacy for intellectual freedom is a core activity of
the Association. It is our belief that Bill C-10 poses a threat to
freedom of artistic expression for all Canadians.
CLA has serious doubts that the proposed provisions would withstand
Charter scrutiny. Section 120(3)(b) amends the definition of
“Canadian film or video production certificate” in
subsection 125.4(1) of the Act to add the requirement that the Minister
is satisfied that “public financial support of the production
would not be contrary to public policy”. Subsection 120(12)
further provides that the Minister shall issue guidelines respecting
this condition and that such guidelines are not statutory instruments,
as defined in the Statutory Instruments Act (SIA). The difference
between a “guideline” and a “regulation” is
important, because the latter must go through the process set forth in
the SIA, while the former need not.
By delegating the power to the Minister to issue
“guidelines” that are not subject to the transparency
requirements of the SIA, Bill C-10 in effect vests the Minister with the
broad authority to censor films under the authority of guidelines that
do not have to be broadly vetted by the public, as would a
regulation.
Moreover, the provisions of Bill C-10 that allow the Minister to deny
funding to productions that are “contrary to public policy”
would have a chilling effect on motion pictures and television
programming dealing with controversial subjects. CLA views this as a
direct threat to freedom of expression and to the right of Canadians to
examine controversial subjects through any medium of communication.
Finally, it is the position of CLA that burying these controversial
changes inside a 600-page money bill is deeply contrary to the spirit of
democracy and open debate in Canada.
We call on the Senate to remove the offending provisions from the tax
bill. Because we do not wish to delay the passage of a tax measure that
is otherwise uncontroversial, CLA suggests that the best course of
action is to send the bill back to the House of Commons without the
offending sections.
It is the position of CLA that current legislation, regulations, and
practices are adequate in that projects funded through the tax credit
program must conform to a code of broadcasting ethics as well as to
various sections of the Criminal Code pertaining to obscenity, child
pornography and hate speech.
Nevertheless, if the government still believes otherwise, we would
look forward to the introduction of a new stand-alone bill in the House
that would deal specifically with the “public policy” issues
and that would contain a clear statement of purpose as well as the
substance of the guidelines. In this way, the bill could be properly
debated and scrutinized by Canadians as a cultural policy issue and for
its impact on freedom of expression and artistic merit in Canada.
Sincerely,
Alvin M. Schrader
President
c.
Clerk of the Senate Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
Hon. Josée Verner, Minister of Canadian Heritage
Hon. Stéphane Dion, Leader of the Opposition
Hon. Jack Layton, Leader of the NDP
Mr. Gilles Duceppe, Leader of the Bloc Québécois
Canadian Conference of the Arts
Canadian Film and Television Production Association
The Association des producteurs de films et de television du Quebec
Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists
