The Toxic and The Tin-Eared

CAN NO ONE save Heritage Minister Josée Verner from herself?

Here's the latest Bill C10 lunacy.

A couple days ago Director Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain) was talking to students in Vancouver, when the subject of Bill C10 came up. He exhorted the students to do what they could to fight it.

He said financially-assisted films should not be treated as propaganda "or as a salesman for the tourist industry. I think that's just too low. They (the government) should know better than that."

Afterwards, as youthful film-makers gathered around him, Lee urged them to "make a noise, whatever" to stop Bill C-10. "It's almost like censorship."

Lee, who also directed such celebrated films as Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is the highest-profile opponent so far to speak out against the bill, currently in hearings before a committee of the Senate.

So, fine, that's embarrassing. An internationally-renowned Director calls you out on your shoddy Bill. People with long cultural memories in Canada might be a little leery if they remember the fiasco around The Tin Drum, which for years gave Canada a reputation as priggish, censorious, and a little unsophisticated in the world cultural scene. It's been a couple decades, and the country has certainly clawed its way back. But in reacting to Lee, here's what the Minister said, (as reported in today's Globe & Mail:)

In addition to pointing out that Lee, as a non-Canadian, is exempt from being denied the particular tax credit included in the bill, [emphasis mine] Verner denied Lee's charges of censorship.

It's not often in this world that you see someone try to defend something by pointing at one of the things that makes the thing odious in the first place.

Central to the opposition to C10 by Canadian creatives is this idea that there are two sets of rules for tax credits -- one for foreigners and one for homegrown artists. It's ridiculous -- and purely political -- to have such a double standard. And if this shoddy bill ever became law, it's probably the clause that would eventually get it struck down by the Supreme Court of Canada.

There's no way to defend this double standard. If you try to say, "well, you can't apply it to foreign productions because then we won't attract their films and jobs will be lost," the obvious retort is, "well, um, what about the homegrown jobs created by Canadian producers -- why are they different?" Part of me would really like to see the Minister chew over that one, but then I realize it's probably not a good idea. Her head might explode.

The incredible thing is that in the very same breath, after pointing out how (separate from the emotional argument about censorship) her government intends to discriminate against homegrown creatives, she goes on to repeat the canard she's been floating for weeks now:

“We are reaching out to industry to work with them on Bill C-10. Together, we will find the best solution for the industry, for Canadian citizens and tax payers.”

That raises another issue for critics of the bill such as writer Susan Swan, the chair of The Writer's Union of Canada. Swan says the arts community has no intention of working out guidelines with the Minister. Swan was in Ottawa last week to deliver this message to a senate committee.

“None of the delegates from the other arts organizations at the senate banking committee last week expressed any interest in doing it,” she said. “There are already guidelines in place for government funding of film. Why would we want to add another tier? The Writers' Union, like Ang Lee, believes artistic freedom is the best public policy for film funding.”

So nobody -- except the Minister, her puppet master, and her special interest groups think it's a good idea. In defending it, she points out why it's odious. And then she claims support and consultation that simply isn't there.

This woman is completely alone out on this limb. And, lo and behold, now the news breaks that Verner is one of the Conservative MP's involved in the brewing campaign finance scandal, which saw Conservative Party headquarters raided by the RCMP last week, on a warrant prompted by an Elections Canada investigation.

Really, how long can this continue? How bad can Canada look before something's done?

And what the hell is it with this country's governments and Election Scandals, anyway? Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.

Yuck.