Call me a nationalist...

...but this is bollocks.

Said Stephen Waddell, ACTRA's national executive director, in a statement: "Last year we were shocked that so-called Canadian private broadcasters spent four times more on U.S. rogramming than they did on original Canadian drama. Now we're appalled to learn that in 2005, they spent almost five times more. The system is clearly broken."

What, you think? Why is there so much resistence to the idea of supporting Canadian Acting and, more generally, culture? It's not like we invented the frigging idea or anything. The whole thing is so internally self-consistent, it drives me nuts. Canadian movies get 3% of screen time in their own countries. (This is not to say that our movies are any great shakes, but if we have to watch bad movies anyway, they might as well be ours.) This means that the film industry can't afford to make movies that no one will watch and which occupy a tiny little avant garde niche in their own country. Everyone else goes to the United States or works on American productions. No screen time = no audience = no money = no industry.

This is very simple. Mandating quotas for music means we got a Canadian music industry. Exactly the same thing ought to happen with the movie industry. Why don't we? Because Canadian companies don't invest in and promote Canadian film on their own. Instead, it is all about "the market." Everything has to be competative, pay its own way and the best will get screen time. (Oh man, are we STILL funding the CBC? Jeez, the free market is going to get mad and destroy us any freaking minute now.)

If Hollywood wants to bail because we reserve OUR screens for OUR bad movies instead of theirs, let them. They'll be back. Our crappy dollar means too much to their bottom lines. They're bluffing us out, and we're falling for it. Have, say a 30% quota, and Canadian film will expand to meet that limit. Not what consumers want? Our films make 7/10ths of 1% of the box office in our own country. How many of us have ever seen a Canadian film? You there in the back? Yeah, that's what I thought. How do we know what we want to see when there is nowhere to see it?

Post Script (Apr 4): According to Vinay Melon at the Star, the Juno's outdrew the Grammy's this year in Canada. While this may be because everyone is waiting for movie releases to go to DVD these days, it does go to show you that we can and will watch Cancon, given a decent industry and performers behind it.

Juno Jump: Last night's Juno Awards broadcast is credited with pulling in an average 1.7 million viewers on CTV, more than the Grammy Awards in February, and behind only the Oscars and Golden Globes in award show viewership. The show, broadcast from Halifax Metro Centre, peaked with 2.1 million viewers and attracted almost 30 per cent more viewers than last year, making it the second-most watched Juno Awards, according to a news release. CTV says its eTalk Daily preshow, with Tanya Kim and Ben Mulroney, attracted its biggest audience ever with 1.04 million viewers.

Isn't Capitalism EVER satisfied?

Net pioneer Tim Berners-Lee notes that net neutrality is coming under attack. Says Lee,

[Lee is]"very concerned" about talk from major North America phone and cable giants about their desire to collect so-called Web tolls from content suppliers and e-commerce companies that want assured access to broadband subscribers.

In the vernacular, the most popular sites are charged for the bandwidth they use, and those paying fees get faster access to high traffic areas. Fortunately, U.S. Senator Ron Wyden seems to get it. The net works because everyone can get on it and get to content without having to pay for it. Start charging tolls and watch traffic drop precipitously. Ah, but just because the carriers are already making tons off the service, doesn't mean that they don't have the right to make even more!

It is to laugh...

Merriam-Webster's Words of the Year 2005.

Jeez, it's almost too easy. Although 3 and 10 seem to have a certain zeitgeist as well. *sigh* Anything I could say here would be an all-to-cheap shot, so let's move on.

News Flash: Canadians Don't Like Bush and Other Stories

Gosh! A new poll has determined that Canadians aren't impressed with the American government these days. Who knew? As the article puts it:

The survey, for example, found that in Quebec, 81 per cent of those surveyed thought Mr. Bush's re-election was a bad thing. The poll also found that 70 per cent agreed with the statement that, although they value the United States and its citizens, they disagree fundamentally with the government.

As if this was a surprise. But I wish people would stop assuming that equates to Anti-Americanism. One American told me once that she considered it Anti-American whenever one criticized the Administration without saying something positive as well. Well okay. I'll say this much for Bush-- he's got a nice house.

Still, tongue-in-cheek aside, Canadians do spend a lot of time criticizing Americans, and I do think there is a pretty strong current of Anti-Americanism here. You don't have to dig very deep to find it. Nora James, an American working in Canada had a number of thoughtful things to say about this reality.

Because some 80 to 90 percent of this country's trade is with the United States, the reality is that Canadians need Americans to sustain their economy and thus the quality of life they value. Such dependence breeds resentment. In "officially multicultural Canada," hostility toward Americans is the last socially acceptable expression of bigotry and xenophobia.

It's hard to argue with this, particularly the economic part. It must be difficult to be an American here, because despite similarities in consumer culture, we do have a lot of different ideas here. And I think our image of Americans is largely informed by this sort, which is hardly fair.

I also agree with this, to a point: "Any country that defines itself through a negative ("Canada: We're not the United States") is doomed to an endless and repetitive cycle of hand-wringing and angst." She is at least partly right to this, though "Who we aren't" has a long and ignoble tradition in both countries. It's part of defining identity-- just ask all the insecure heteros out there who use some formulation of "I'm not gay" two seconds into any given conversation.

In any case, I've often thought that we ought to focus more on Canadian solutions, not what "they" are doing. Lets build ourselves up, not waste energy on whatever the U.S. is doing. Though I'd like to see Bush impeached, I can't do anything about it. I can only work on my own country's problems. But what the first article/poll does get right is that most thoughtful Canadians make a distinction between the United States and its government. Even our right-wingers are Democrats up here-- put a Democrat in the White House and you'll see a lot of this bollocks disappear.

Hello in There!

Does it really get more obvious than this? Whatever else may be the story, something is happening. Let's get ready and slow it down so it's not such a disaster. Go ahead and argue about causes, but do something.

Ontario Finally Gets With The Program

Yeah, so um, it's been a little while since I paid any attention to this. Things have been a little hectic recently. However, I'll try again.

Item #1-- About freaking time some jurisdiction in Canada finally started to push Green power. Of course, there is way more to be done, but jeez, not only is it going to help the planet, advance technological progress generally, Solar Power is freaking free for pity's sake. If we put half the money into research and promotion of Green energy that we do into, oh, say, oil exploration...

Item #2-- I don't know how I feel about sending illegal immigrants back where they came from. On the one hand, yeah, they're illegal immigrants. You shouldn't get to jump the line. On the other hand, it's not like these people are sitting around soaking up welfare or anything. They're paying their own way, and if they want to become citizens, isn't this the sort of loyalty Canada wants? Not to mention thatt he construction industry in Toronto seems to be desperate for workers. Quoth a spokeman:

"There is always a shortage of skilled labour, especially since most Canadians don't want to do this kind of job. When they come here they are willing to work hard. That's good for them and it's good for the economy," said Faienza.

Which only goes to show you-- it's almost never as simple as people make it out to be. Maybe we should be letting more people in, not fewer.

Item #3-- Why do people still believe what this man says? No civil war in Iraq my ass. Even better were Bush's comments about human rights abuses in Belarus making their election illegitimate. Jeez, but it's all good in Iraq right? Three years laterand the bollocks continues. The only good news is that the congressional elections are getting closer. They may go Democrat, but I bet a McCain Presidency happens too. Einserhower, take two.

Item #4-- Meanwhile, the prudes continue to take over in the U.S. Am I a fan of orgies on television? Well no, not really. But 3.6 million for suggesting it might possibly happen? Sounds like the FCC commissioners are mad they missed out during their teenage years. What's the real point? Censorship almost always = a bad idea. Especially State censorship.

Item #5 -- Seems like the probe was really Much Ado About Nothing. I don't blame the residents of the riding; I'd be pretty pissed too if my MP (an NDPer) jumped to the Libs two weeks after the election. But this was a pretty simple setup. Not illegal, just a) immoral and b) boneheaded. The question is, will it be an issue come election time? I think Emerson will get creamed (if he runs, which I sitll doubt) but other than that, everyone else will have forgotten about it.

Item #6-- There is no #6. God, I love that joke. Don't ask me why.