CMF applauds the Government of Canada on its Creative Canada policy

Ottawa, September 28, 2017 - The Canada Media Fund (CMF) applauds Minister of Canadian Heritage Mélanie Joly and the federal cabinet on the announcement of the Creative Canada policy, an important first step in the government’s commitment to overhaul Canada’s cultural funding framework.

The Government of Canada will increase the federal contribution to the CMF to offset the decline in contributions from cable and satellite distributors. 

“The CMF is very pleased with the government's commitment to strengthen its support for the creation of high-quality Canadian content at a time when diminishing cable and  satellite subscription revenues has meant that the Canada Media Fund has fewer resources available to support independent Canadian productions. We congratulate the Minister and the government for their vision and strategy to produce more and better Canadian creative content, to foster greater innovation in the face of growing technological change and to update the legislative and policy framework regulating broadcasting in Canada,” said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. 

“This new funding, together with the $134M the government provides to the CMF annually, in addition to contributions from Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV service providers, will help support good jobs, including for our writers, showrunners, producers, directors, actors and crews. This will serve as a testament to the government’s support for Canada’s cultural sector and the custodians of our stories, our storytellers and the people who help make their stories a reality on the screen of our choice,” she added. 

The CMF invested in 2016-2017 over $40M in innovative projects through the Experimental Stream, thus strengthening Canada as a leader in leading-edge interactive digital media content and software applications. The CMF will continue to work closely with the government to ensure the funding mechanisms available to Canadian digital media producers remain competitive. 

The CMF is emboldened by the government’s supports of Canadian creative talent in both official languages, as well as Indigenous, official-language minority productions, and diverse language productions. The CMF looks forward to working with the government to devote more resources to Indigenous content to ensure that Indigenous creators are supported as they tell their stories and bring them to Canadians and the world.

The CMF also supports the government’s announced focus to provide support for the early stages of development of television and movie scripts. This will encourage risk-taking by Canadian creators, and will enhance the CMF’s ongoing efforts to support development of audiovisual productions.

“We also commend the government for its openness to making further modifications to the CMF program to ensure that the CMF has the tools and the flexibility it needs to adapt its support for the screen-based sector given the rapidly changing environment,” she concluded. 

The Creative Canada policy will include, $125M in new funding over five years for a Creative Export Strategy to boost the sales of Canadian content around the world, and a $300M investment in cultural infrastructure to fund new creative hubs where creators can build their entrepreneurial skills, create, collaborate and innovate. This will help Canadian productions reach new audiences around the world and to remain competitive in the borderless market in which we operate.

The CMF also commends the government’s commitment to reviewing the Broadcasting Act and hopes this modernization of the regulatory framework will ensure Canadian productions remain relevant and competitive, both in Canada and abroad, while building on the current structure that supports Canadian storytellers. 

The creation of a new Creative Industries Council, which will work with private-sector players to increase Canada's presence on the international stage and foster growth in cultural industries, will also maximize revenue-generating opportunities for Canadian productions.

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About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.

For more information, contact:

André Ferreira
Communications Manager
[email protected]
416-554-2768