Tories threaten to force election on C-10

by BILL CURRY — May 1, 2008

OTTAWA -- Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is declaring film tax-credit legislation a matter of confidence in the Conservative government, meaning MPs could land on Canadian doorsteps this spring to debate the line between art and pornography.

Mr. Flaherty said the legislation, known as Bill C-10, contains a range of important tax measures and changes will not be tolerated.

"The bill should not be amended," he told reporters yesterday. "A tax bill is a confidence bill. We all know that."

Mr. Flaherty's warning followed his appearance before the Senate banking committee, which has been studying the legislation for weeks. The committee is expected to wrap up its work next week, and several Liberal senators have indicated a desire to amend the bill.

If amended, the bill would return to the House of Commons for a confidence vote. The legislation sailed through the House last year, but it hit a major snag in the Senate.

The government indicated in February that a provision of the bill will be used to draft guidelines on what kind of content could disqualify a production from receiving tax credits.

Canadian Heritage officials said the law will trigger consultations on new rules that will expand the criteria for denying the credits to include gratuitous violence, sexual content that lacks an educational purpose, or denigration of an identifiable group.

Filmmakers such as David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley are leading a campaign against the bill, describing it as a form of censorship. Mr. Flaherty said yesterday that while he enjoys Mr. Cronenberg's films, he remains unconvinced that the new approach has anything to do with censorship.

"What's being proposed is the same thing that was proposed by the previous Liberal government," he said. "When public money is being spent in the film and video industry, that the government has a responsibility to take a position with respect to public policy. And that is a position against things that are hateful, or extremely violent or very obscene. And I don't pretend that it's easy to draw the line. It isn't. Of course it isn't. This debate has gone on for decades. It's gone on certainly all my life. ... But should it be done? Yes. Because these are public tax dollars being spent."

Mr. Cronenberg questioned whether the script for his 1996 film Crash, about a group of people who are turned on by car accidents, would have made it past Mr. Flaherty or Heritage Minister Josée Verner.

"I have a feeling they would have been horrified and they would have killed it and it would never have gotten made because it needed the co-production deal and Telefilm money to get made," he said in an interview. "In essence, all Canadian filmmaking is independent filmmaking and we are very dependent on government money to have a film industry, and so denial of that money is tantamount to censorship. Everybody knows it. They can put up their façade all they want, but everybody, including them, knows it."

Liberal Senator Pierrette Ringuette appealed to Mr. Flaherty's economic instincts yesterday, telling him the legislation would put Canadian film jobs at risk because it would lead to uncertainty over future financing.

"The economy is not on such a sure footing. We're looking at thousands of jobs for Canadians in this industry and I think it is our responsibility to make sure that things are clear, that we are not putting forth legislation that may lose further Canadian jobs," she said.

Mr. Flaherty said he's not aware of any evidence the legislation puts jobs at risk and noted that Ms. Verner has pledged a year of consultations on the new guidelines.

Source:The Globe and Mail