Meet Michel Arpin, Arbiter of Our Future

I STARTED MY term as a member of the WGC's governing council in May 2008. I was elected to serve the Central Region, which is effectively Ontario -- one of three councillors from the province where the majority of members in the Writers Guild of Canada reside. The council is essentially like the Board of Directors. Several times a year the council meets to approve the workings of the union representing 1900 Canadian screenwriters. We hear about arbitrations, issues related to industrial policy, and also issues of regulatory policy.

I try to make sure I'm up to date with whatever other writers are going through. Because nothing happens in a vacuum, too, that means I have to be aware and conversant with the larger issues that are going on out in the broadcast industry. Anything that affects the health of the industry, affects the viability of future work for writers. Regulation can be dry, and boring, and it's always a matter of balancing out certain self-interested groups. But in the end if the system is going to function, you can't have blinders on and argue for your partisan needs, or exclusively from your point of view. Sometimes the good of all means seeing the other guy's problem, and sometimes it might even mean partnering up with stakeholders you don't always agree with.

That's how I approach things as a councillor. But what follows doesn't reflect the views of the WGC. This is the purview of one hard-working, pissed off working writer, taxpayer, and Canadian.

MEET THE CRTC

Most Canadians don't think about the CRTC very much at all. Or if they do, it's once a year when they tune in the Super Bowl and find out that, yes, again, we don't get to see the nifty big-budget American ads. (The CRTC gets so many calls about that they have a separate information page about it.) The CRTC was established in 1968, and its full name: Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, demonstrates the breadth of its mandate. It oversees all the regulation for Cable and Satellite TV, Broadcast TV, radio, and anything to do with telephones, both cellular and land-based. The CRTC determines what rates the cable companies can set (because they're regulated monopolies) and telephone rates, and also arbites issues of Cancon, and anything to do with foreign ownership, etc.

The basic philosophy behind the CRTC is that the airwaves are owned by Canadians, and held in trust by the CRTC for Canadians. Companies who want the privelege of using them have to promise certain things ("promises of performance.")

On their web page, they describe their role thusly:

The primary objective of the Broadcasting Act is to ensure that all Canadians have access to a wide variety of high quality Canadian programming.

The main objective of the Telecommunications Act is to ensure that Canadians have access to reliable telephone and other telecommunications services at affordable prices.

Not only must we comply with these Acts, but we also report to Parliament through the Minister of Canadian Heritage and are subject to orders from Cabinet. In addition, we must take into account the wants and needs of Canadian citizens, industries, and various interest groups.

Generally, our role is to maintain a delicate balance-in the public interest-between the cultural, social and economic goals of the legislation on broadcasting and telecommunications.

Our mandate is to ensure that programming in the Canadian broadcasting system reflects Canadian creativity and talent, our linguistic duality, our multicultural diversity, the special place of aboriginal people within our society and our social values. At the same time, we must ensure that Canadians have access to reasonably priced, high-quality, varied and innovative communications services that are competitive nationally as well as internationally.

Over the next couple years, the CRTC will be holding a number of important hearings and making a number of decisions on your behalf that will affect what you hear on radio, see on TV, and maybe even how your internet service works.

Back in 1999, the CRTC decided that for the moment that it wasn't going to exercise any regulatory authority over Canadian internet providers. But this year there will be hearings to see if the purposes of the Broadcasting Act should be extended into the new media realm. It's a very complicated process, and it will require a lot of counsel, consultation and listening to balance out all the competing interests and come to a decision that's best for Canadians.

The CRTC hearings and decisions are presided over by a group of commissioners. Each one kind of does a similar job to what I do on the WGC council, except of course the issues they preside over are way more far-ranging. Because of that, they try to balance the commission with people who have different areas of expertise. Some might know something about engineering aspects of how the technology works; some will come from the telecommunications or cable sectors. Still others will be from a public policy background. You can read about the current commissioners and where they came from here.

MICHEL ARPIN and HIS PLAYBACK INTERVIEW

Michel Arpin is kind of like a super-commissioner. He's currently one of the commissions' Vice Chairs, which means he's just below the Chairman, Konrad von Finckenstein. The commission has two Vice Chairs, one for the Telecommunications side of things, and one for Broadcasting. Arpin represents the latter.

But that doesn't exactly fully explain the degree of his power and influence. See, Arpin has served as interim chairman of the entire commission in the past. He's also been a broadcasting executive in his career, and has done long stints at the CRTC before, from 1971 to 1979. He's also served as Chair of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters.

That's a lot of industry experience. Which makes this interview he gave to Playback Magazine a little shocking and a lot disappointing. (The full article from the December 15, 2008 Playback is probably behind their firewall, but I'll reproduce the relevant bits below.)

In what was a year-in-review and next-year-preview piece, Arpin was asked, and answered the following two questions:

Will Canadian drama on our television screens be an issue again at hearings in 2009?

The decline in Canadian drama is an issue that the unions regularly put on the table. It's documented. I'm sure they will bring it to the top of the pile at the hearings.

What are your favorite television programs?

I'm a news and documentary consumer. I'm not that interested in televised fiction or even feature films. I would prefer to read a novel.

[Emphasis added by me.]

Now. Let's let that sit there for a second.

Are you outraged?

If not, can I ask, "why not?"

See, the problem is, remember how I wrote where the commission tries to balance areas of expertise? Well, Arpin is the Broadcasting guy. If you look over the other commissioners, this is the guy who's supposed to be speaking for you if you work in the creative end of the industry. He's also speaking for you as a consumer of TV. Remember that -- their words -- "the primary objective of the Broadcasting Act is to ensure that all Canadians have access to a wide variety of high quality Canadian programming." [Again, emphasis mine.]

Have I missed something here? Does primary mean something different than I think it does? Does 'high quality Canadian programming' mean something different than I think it does?

If not, then is it possible...nay, even probable... that the person serving in that position, charged with upholding the Broadcasting Act -- simply doesn't know or care about the very regulation he's supposed to be upholding?

I wasn't being solipsistic when I recounted my short WGC council experience at the top of this piece. I was laying down my personal philosophy. I think it's important that if you're asked to represent people and do a job, that you are prepared both temperamentally and philosophically to do that job. You don't get to pick and choose. I don't get to say, "I'm an adult hour long drama TV writer, so I don't really care what's going on for people who write animation, or children's, or features."

And so Monsieur Arpin shouldn't get to pick and choose which stakeholders he gets to represent on the CRTC.

Over the last couple of years, we've asked people to write interventions to the CRTC. We've asked people to go to rallies. We've asked people to try and exchange information, to work to make the products we do better. We've seen Canadian shows make inroads with audiences. We've seen culture become an election issue which may have cost the Conservatives a majority in Quebec.

But these are still all baby steps, and they don't add up to a warm bucket of spit if the gatekeeper doesn't understand, and doesn't care to understand, what the hell all the fuss we're making is about.

In essence, by his own admission, what we have with Michel Arpin on the CRTC is the equivalent of a judge of a literary award who's illiterate. It's like installing a guy to oversee Public Transit who's never taken the subway. It's like asking a high school dropout to oversee the redesign of the educational system. Or it's very much like putting people who don't believe in regulating and overseeing the financial markets in charge of regulating the markets.

And how did that work out again?

It's possible that, even with all those shortcomings, that a candidate could still be well suited to serve. All it takes is for the person involved to be truly comitted to compensating for some of their deficits. If you're not versed in an area, you take counsel from others who are. I wouldn't think of asking Michel Arpin to start watching more scripted TV or go to movies, if that's not what he wants to do. But by virtue of his responsibility and his position, I don't think it's unreasonable to ask that somehow they find a way to correct this deficit.

See, when we as creatives talk about the CTF and the need for funding for development, and support of the industry, I try not to get too upset when some uninformed people come back with the usual canard of, "If they want to do programs, they should try to stand on their own, and not look for a handout." I don't get upset about this because I don't expect the layman to understand how it all fits together -- that, in fact, none of the cogs in the wheel of the broadcasting system in this country "stand on their own." (And that a whole mess o'other industries get government support, too.) The people who whine about every dollar that goes to the CBC may conveniently forget that the private networks get a huge winfall when it comes to that protectionist "signal substitution;" that Cable co's are protected from foreign ownership, and given near-monopoly status to keep out predatory competition.

I don't mind, because I expect the professional overseers, the CRTC commisioners, to have a more comprehensive view; to understand that things like how CanCon requirements work as a counterbalance to the huge disincentive to produce homegrown shows on Private networks caused by the policy of signal substitution. Let's face it, we all know Canadian channels wouldn't air a minute of Canadian programming if they could get away with it because the U.S. dramas and comedies are cheaper, and allow them to slap their commercials over U.S. broadcasts, getting two bangs for every buck.

But what that interview segment above, when combined with Arpin's conduct on the commisison in the last while, proves is that he isn't thinking of creatives. He can't wait to dismiss us. He is not engaged on our issues, he doesn't care about our arguments, and he goes through the motions to appear like he's doing his job, when really, the fix is in from the beginning on every issue.

So it doesn't matter that there was all that hard work done to show that splitting the CTF in two was a bad idea: Arpin listens to broadcasters and cable types -- not creative types.

Occasionally, even the constituencies he cares about go too far, like asking for carriage fees, and he may rear up and speak out about that...but it doesn't change the fact that basically -- he's completely unwilling to look beyond his personal biases. Now you start to understand why everyone on the commission talks about strengthening local news, but not about drama or comedy. Arpin wants to control the remote for you - and serve up the kind of stuff he wants to watch!

If you are a cultural worker, or simply one of the millions of people who do like to watch TV or go to movies, Arpin doesn't really care what you think, or what you want.

As Vice Chair, Arpin has a lot of influence in shaping the way the public consultation process works. If you read that response above in its proper context, you can see how things start to go. It's why the Cable companies and the Broadcasters went first at the last set of Broadcasting hearings, and why the Creative Unions were shunted to a day after the cameras were gone. And it explains and contextualizes further the bizarre dismissive tone Arpin took when the WGC had individual screenwriters tell their stories.

This is a man who isn't even pretending anymore. He feels so above us all as to be able to openly show contempt for the people he's supposed to serve.

WHAT TO DO?

This is where it gets tricky.

Arpin's term as a commissioner doesn't expire until 2010. By then, many of the decisions that will determine where the industry goes will be made. In 1999, they relaxed CanCon rules and it killed the scripted programming game for years, and drove many out of the business. When I sit in on my Council meetings, it's with the knowledge that by the time my term expires, I should have a pretty good idea about what my choices will be. Those choices? Stay in the business and move south. Get out of the business and do something else. Or stay in the business here -- but only if there's a business to stay in.

I brooded on that Arpin interview all through Christmas. I kept expecting somebody to pick up on it. A guy who's in charge of protecting Canadian programming who freely admits he'd rather read novels? Who dismisses every other genre but news? I mean, surely someone would write about that, right?

But no journalist, to date, has picked up on it. Playback let it lie there. So I guess, again, it's up to us. If you're a fan of television and would like the chance to see a bit more diversity through some more quality Canadian shows...if you're one of the millions who watched Flashpoint or Corner Gas or Being Erica or Wild Roses, or Mercer or Trailer Park Boys... then what can you do?

1) Contact or Write Your MP

This is a nice, clear, very specific issue. It's the kind of thing that could make a good question in Question Period. Contact your MP, talk to them about the CRTC and ask why Canadians have to put up with a man with the power to decide what they see on TV and in the movies who admits he doesn't care about either?

Here is a list of MP's office phone numbers and addresses. Make an appointment, drop by, or write your MP and ask them to raise this issue in Question Period.

2) Contact the Commissioners of the CRTC.

They are public servants. Now that Arpin's interview has opened the door, wouldn't it be interesting to know who, in fact, watches what? Is there anyone on the commission familiar with Canadian TV and film?

Write the CRTC:

By mail:
CRTC
Ottawa, Ontario
Canada, K1A 0N2

By courier:

Les Terrasses de la Chaudière
Central Building
1 Promenade du Portage
Gatineau, Quebec J8X 4B1

By fax:
819-994-0218CRTC Commissioners:
Write at the address above or phone:

Chairman, Konrad von Finckenstein 819-997-3430

Vice-Chairman, Broadcasting, Michel Arpin 819-997-8766

Vice-Chairman, Telecommunications, Len Katz 819-997-8766

Commissioner, Michel Morin 819-953-4375

Commissioner, Marc Patrone 819-953-9958

Commissioner, Timothy Denton 819-953-5388

Commissioner, Louise Poirier 819-953-0435

Part-time Commissioner, Peter Menzies 819-953-5241

Commissioner, Elizabeth A. Duncan
(Atlantic) 819-997-4764
902-426-2644

Commissioner, Suzanne Lamarre
(Quebec) 819-934-6347
514-496-2370

Commissioner, Rita Cugini
(Ontario) 819-997-2431
416-954-6269

Commissioner, Vacant
(Alberta/NWT) 819-997-3917
604-666-2914

Commissioner, Candice J. Molnar
(Manitoba/Saskatchewan) 819-997-4485
306-780-3423

Commissioner, Stephen B. Simpson
(B.C./Yukon) 819-953-6026
604-666-2914

3) Write the Chairman of the CRTC.

Express that you have concerns that Michel Arpin is not working in the best interests of Canadians, or the primary goal of the CRTC as laid out in the Broadcasting Act. Suggest that the Chairman request Arpin recuse himself from any hearings that have to do with Canadian programming or that might affect Canadian Content provisions, until such time as he shows a willingness to become conversant with the products and stories made by Canadians.

The Chairman of the CRTC can be reached via email:

konrad.vonfinckenstein@crtc.gc.ca

4) Contact Michel Arpin's office:

Impress upon Monsieur Arpin that you are a Canadian citizen, that you do watch TV and Film and enjoy them both. Ask why you should be confident that Monsieur Arpin will protect the position of high quality Canadian programming when he freely admits he doesn't personally care about any of it?

While you're at it, you might want to ask why he seems to show such contempt for the Creative Unions every time they appear before him. Maybe we've got all this wrong. Did a writer kill his pet hamster or something?

Remember -- be nice and respectful. The guy has had a long career and there are lots of people who respect him. If he has become arrogant enough to think that he isn't responsible to anybody, then being ostreperous right back isn't going to do anything to disabuse him of that notion.

Those are the sticks. How about we try one tiny little carrot?

5) Hearts and Minds, Hopefully With Popcorn

There's that old axiom about being able to get more flies with honey than with vinegar.

For this next step, then, you can help me if you're a producer, or if you're involved with a Canadian Film or Television Program.

One of the most wonderful things that's been done in the last little while for the arts in Canada is a one-man crusade by Man Booker Prize winner Yann Martel (Life of Pi) to try and bring Prime Minister Stephen Harper "stillness" by sending him books. The eclectic and interesting list of the books that he's sent since 2007 can be read here.

I'm proposing we do the same thing for Monsieur Arpin with Canadian Film and TV shows.

After all, it's a lot of work to try and get into something. And maybe we'd have more luck changing Monsieur Arpin's mind if he had some material to work with. The trick, though, is not to bombard him with a bunch of stuff all at once. That's just going to be an annoyance for the poor staffers.

What I propose is this: if you have a DVD box set of a recent Canadian TV show or Film you'd like to have considered for inclusion in Mr. Arpin's library, contact me at heywriterboy@hotmail.com.

Once a month for the next year, I'll pick a program set and send it off to Monsieur Arpin c/o the CRTC, with a letter explaining the show and what people like about it. If you'd like to join in the discussion of what shows/films should be sent, come join a group of engaged Canadian Writers & Creative types over at Ink Canada on Facebook.

Maybe Monsieur Arpin won't watch all these shows...maybe he won't watch any of them...but you know, there are a whole bunch of overworked staffers at the CRTC, and maybe we can win their hearts and minds, bit by little bit. I'm sure things get slow in Gatineau now and again. You know what they say...be nice to the assistants!

If nothing else, maybe Arpin can leverage his box sets for a borrow of one of the PM's novels!

For the first send, I'm going to start this up simply by sending a copy of the Season 1 DVD box set of THE BORDER, the show I just finished working on. (Hint to Arpin: Stockwell Day's a fan...maybe you can get him to ask Steve if you can get the really good novels Yann sent.)

Finally, dear reader, you can try to make a difference by forwarding this to anybody you might think would be interested.

And any journalists or radio types, I'd be more than willing to talk about this initiative to you.

Hopefully, by casting light on one powerful man's biases, calling him out, and making sure that one high-placed guy has access to a wide variety of high quality Canadian programming, we can get back to a place where we all have that opportunity.