Oda, ’stalling on TV fund renewal’?
p2pnet.net News:- The fund-raising scandal involving Canadian heritage minister Bev Oda continues to pick up steam.
Oda was caught apparently doing a Sam Bulte, a, “dirty Canadian Member of Parliament who took funds from entertainment company and later introduced extreme copyright laws,” as Cory Doctorow summed it up.
Bulte is now long gone, but she’s far from forgotten and NDP Canadian heritage critic Charlie Angus recently took aim at Oda for planning a major fundraiser sponsored by the head of regulatory affairs for CanWest, one of the country’s largest media companies.
Now, “Are the fundraising activities of the Heritage Minister playing into a decision to stall and delay the renewal of an important television development fund?” – asks a post on the NDP site, which goes on:
In a speech in Vancouver, Glen O’Farrell, president of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, seemed to question the fact that the CRTC mandates Canadian broadcasters to pay into funds that aid in the development of domestic television content.
O’Farrell was the host of a 2005 fundraiser held for Oda at the offices of Corus Entertainment. Angus says that, given the fact that Oda has refused to commit to a renewal of the Canadian Television Fund is a worrying sign.
“The Minister has been deathly silent over the future of the CTF. Meanwhile a key fundraising supporter has been publicly asking about the very need for this fund. Is this corporate Canada sending shot across the bow? Trying to get broadcasters off the hook for paying into development funds for Canadian programming?” asked Angus.
Angus says that, even though last week’s planned fundraiser, which was being hosted by representatives of Canwest Global has been cancelled, questions still remain.
“Today the President of the Treasury Board flatly denied that any of the cheques for the cancelled Oda fundraiser were cashed. The NDP plans to follow up on this matter and find out whether or not the cheques were cashed or cancelled. Given that the Minister has completely frozen out the artistic community in terms of broadcast and copyright issues, we would at least see which lobbyists have her ear,” said Angus.
In addition to not renewing CTF funding, the government has been silent on whether it will continue to support the New Media Fund and Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund. All have seen their private sector support dwindle over the last few years.
The CRTC is currently reviewing television licenses and the issue of domestic content obligations will certainly be discussed.
Stay tuned
Also See:
extreme copyright laws – Hollywood’s Canadian MP, January 4, 2006
major fundraiser – Bev Oda funding scandal, November 9, 2006
NDP – Conservative Minister stalling on renewal of Television Fund bad news for industry, November 23, 2006
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