Canadian Politics

[cbacon 0]

So yeah, exciting times over here.

 

- Federal budget introduced

- Afghan mission extended to 2011

- Probable election looming

 

What you think?

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

What's this looming election? I'll be stunned if Dion renounces the budget, and the NDP and Bloc don't have enough seats between the two of them to overturn it.

 

Harper's in no hurry to call an election from what I've seen, and Dion would be a fool to with last week's support numbers.

[cbacon 0]

Actually yeah, looks like the Liberals are abstaining.

 

The other potential election issue was the crime bill, but that seems to have passed today.

[CanadianChris 0]

I was hoping for an election so things at work would calm down. All big projects are halted following an election call.

[Red Baron 0]

I'm more interested in the Alberta Election. This election could shape the future of Canada.

[Red Baron 0]

I'm more interested in the Alberta Election. This election could shape the future of Canada.

[cbacon 0]

Evangelist takes credit for film crackdown

Christian crusader says he pressured cabinet ministers and PMO officials to deny tax credits to productions deemed too offensive

 

BILL CURRY AND GAYLE MACDONALD

 

From Friday's Globe and Mail

 

February 29, 2008 at 4:00 AM EST

 

OTTAWA, TORONTO — A well-known evangelical crusader is claiming credit for the federal government's move to deny tax credits to TV and film productions that contain graphic sex and violence or other offensive content.

 

Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, said his lobbying efforts included discussions with Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day and Justice Minister Rob Nicholson, and "numerous" meetings with officials in the Prime Minister's Office.

 

"We're thankful that someone's finally listening," he said yesterday. "It's fitting with conservative values, and I think that's why Canadians voted for a Conservative government."

 

Mr. McVety said films promoting homosexuality, graphic sex or violence should not receive tax dollars, and backbench Conservative MPs and cabinet ministers support his campaign.

Related Articles

 

"There are a number of Conservative backbench members that do a lot of this work behind the scenes," he said.

 

Mr. Day and Mr. Nicholson said through officials yesterday they did not recall discussing the issue with Mr. McVety.

 

Canadian Heritage officials confirmed yesterday they will be "expanding slightly" the criteria used for denying tax credits to include grounds such as gratuitous violence, significant sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group. More details are promised next week.

 

Arts groups say they will fight the change. Director David Cronenberg and other big industry names warned that the edgy, low-budget films that have garnered Canadians international acclaim will be at risk.

 

Conservatives deny that the changes are driven by politics or Mr. McVety, noting the previous Liberal government pledged to review the guidelines as far back as 2003.

 

Conservative MP Dave Batters recently urged the new president of Telefilm Canada, Michel Roy, to block federal funding for objectionable films, listing Young People Fucking as a recent example.

 

"In my mind, sir, and in the minds of many of my colleagues and many, many Canadians," said Mr. Batters during a Jan. 31 meeting of the Canadian Heritage committee, "the purpose of Telefilm is to help facilitate the making of films for mainstream Canadian society - films that Canadians can sit down and watch with their families in living rooms across this great country."

 

In addition to the tax credits for labour costs, Telefilm is a second source of revenue for Canadian film producers. Mr. Roy pledged to raise the issue with the Telefilm board, but a spokesman said yesterday that no policy changes have been made.

 

Mr. Batters said yesterday he does not support censorship, but offensive films should be made with private money.

 

"If there's a market for that, let people pay the $11," he said.

 

Draft guidelines would give the Heritage Minister the clout to deny tax credits to projects deemed "offensive" by an independent committee that includes members of the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office and the Department of Justice.

 

Several powerful arts groups say the changes violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

Yesterday, novelist Susan Swan, chair of the Writers' Union of Canada, pledged to lead her 1,600-strong membership in a protest.

 

"We're not going to sit back and accept this," vowed Ms. Swan, author of books such as The Wives of Bath and The Biggest Modern Woman in the World. "We don't like being told what kind of art we can make by the federal government."

 

Mr. Cronenberg, whose most recent film was the Oscar-nominated Russian mob thriller Eastern Promises, called the move an assault on the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

 

"The irony is that it is the Canadian films that have given us an international reputation [that] would be most at risk because they are the edgy, relatively low-budget films made by people like me and others that will be targeted by this panel," he said.

 

"The platform they're suggesting is akin to a Communist Chinese panel of unknown people, who, behind closed doors, will make a second ruling after bodies like Telefilm Canada have already invested."

 

CONTROVERSIAL FILMS COULD BE THE LOSERS

 

Films with controversial subject matter, such as Lynne Stopkewich's acclaimed necrophilia film Kissed and Atom Egoyan's Where The Truth Lies (which got an NC-17 rating in the United States for a scene involving a threesome) could lose the right to tax credits under new public policy guidelines.

 

Works by Martin Gero, the director of Young People Fucking (which opens in theatres in Canada in April), could also get a once-over from the panel.

 

"It seems ill-conceived from beginning to end, and is less about censorship than destroying the economic foundation of our entire industry," said Mr. Gero, who shot his debut feature film for $1.5-million with support from Telefilm and other government agencies. "It's old people fucking with the Canadian film industry."

 

Man, they make they make themselves too easy to hate.

[Red Baron 0]

And this is new?

[At Home 0]

I have a Canadian friend who thinks the sun rises and sets in Canada's asshole. How can I prove him wrong?

[Red Baron 0]

What, Toronto?

[Red Baron 0]

I'm more interested in the Alberta Election. This election could shape the future of Canada.

 

Well, damn.

 

Biggest margain ever for the Conservative party. Wow. I am not shocked that the Conservatives won, but by that much...Holy f'n shit.

 

[I like Forums 0]

I have a Canadian friend who thinks the sun rises and sets in Canada's asshole. How can I prove him wrong?

 

Tell him that his cockiness makes all us Canadians look bad. Modesty is the Canadian way.

[dubq 0]

No, the Canadian way is to complain about how much you hate American's and how much you're nothing like them and their culture, but then turn around and eat at their restaurants, watch their television shows and movies, listen to their music, and so on.

[Red Baron 0]

I have a Canadian friend who thinks the sun rises and sets in Canada's asshole. How can I prove him wrong?

 

He's definitly from Toronto.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Oh man, I love Toronto. And I've visited every major Canadian city and I wouldn't trade it for anything less then a really well paying job in probably Vancouver or Montreal. Don't hate because we have a lot of awesome shit.

 

T-Dot4Life.

[Red Baron 0]

Most people from Toronto would love to be a World Class City like other Canadian cities like Vancouver or Montreal.

[Red Baron 0]

BTW Curry, I'm moving to Toronto...more less Malton...

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Hey neighbor. I'm about 15 minutes away from Malton, right near Yorkdale shopping mall. Malton has some good area but for the love of God stay away from the Finch and Darcel section of things unless you're pledging to a local set.

[Red Baron 0]

I believe its around the Darcel area. It's near Elmcreek Park.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Where are you moving from?

[CanadianChris 0]

I used to work right near there, at Humber College. Generally decent, although some areas are a bit dodgy.

[Guest Beastalentier]

I'm writing a sitcom about a guy who gets a job as a disc jockey in a Saskatchewan city. It's called Saska Tunes.

[Red Baron 0]

Where are you moving from?

 

 

St. Catharines.

 

It's easier for me who works out in the Athabasca Oil Sands and fly home to Toronto and it only being a ten minute drive, instead of an hour. Besides the fiancee got a job in Mississauga at Delta Medowvale and rent around there and Mississauga in general was way more pricey than what we found. Also like Chris said, I am probably going to Humber college to either get an apprenticeship for Culinary or Landscapping or finish my Journalism course that I had started at Niagara College.

 

 

Czech: Is Guess Who the number one choice?

[cbacon 0]

which Humber campus?

[Red Baron 0]

North Campus.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I work about two minutes away from your future wifey at the RBC building on Financial Drive.

[CanadianGuitarist 0]

The Guess Who were from Winnipeg.

[Red Baron 0]

But they are going to Saskatoon.

[dubq 0]

Most people from Toronto would love to be a World Class City like other Canadian cities like Vancouver or Montreal.

 

Toronto likes to pretend it's a world class city, but it will never be one as long as we have the same kind of "leadership" at the helm of this city that we've had since the whole megacity fiasco went down.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I'm an Ignorant American. Well, I'm really not, since I hope to go to college there sometime soon and figure I'll hear a lot of this stuff on the news there, but I simply know less about the political system than the average Canadian knows about ours.

 

When people talk about a minority government, they mean that regional elections have changed seats since the last federal election and now the opposition has more MPs, right? Because all I read is "Harper has a minority government, Dion doesn't want to force an election." Why is that? Assuming things stay the way they are, doesn't an election automatically bump Harper out? Or are they afraid they'll lose a bunch of seats again?

 

Sorry if this is makes me sound like an extreme n00b. Our nation is large enough that many of our citizenry don't really need to know how any other system of government performs (and our own is complicated enough that grasping it is enough trouble) or even leave the country.