Creative Canada – Changes to Policies, Programs and Legislation

Creative Canada is built on three pillars:

1. Invest in Canadian creators and cultural entrepreneurs – all of the professionals that contribute to the creation and production of work, from artists to writers, producers and directors - and their stories.
2. Promote discovery and distribution of Canadian content at home and globally.
3. Strengthen public broadcasting and support local news.

Together, we have built a strong foundation that reflects who we are as Canadians. From here, we will continue to work with the creative sector to achieve a modernized and forward-looking approach to culture and creativity in Canada.

To support the vision for a Creative Canada, a series of concrete measures including investments, changes to policies, programs and legislation will be made. These include:

1. Invest in Canadian creators, cultural entrepreneurs and their stories

• Increasing the federal contribution to the Canada Media Fund in order to maintain the level of funding in the Canada Media Fund starting in 2018, countering declining private sector contributions.
• Working with the Canada Media Fund to examine what more could be done to support and enhance early stage development of content, such as script-writing and pitch development.
• Ensuring that the Canada Media Fund continues to invest at minimum $40 million per year in innovative projects through the Experimental Stream, strengthening Canada as a leader in new interactive digital media content.
• Modernizing key funding programs for music and books to better reflect needs of authors, publishers and musicians in today’s industries.
• Working with the Canadian Audio-Visual Certification Office (CAVCO) to improve the administration of film and TV production tax credits, as well as streamline the application process for producers applying to both CAVCO and Telefilm.
• Investing in the next generation of cultural spaces – Creative Hubs – where artists, creators and creative start-ups can build their entrepreneurial skills, create, collaborate and innovate.
• Promoting access to the government’s $1.26 billion Strategic Innovation Fund so creative industries can scale-up and innovate.
• Putting a focus on creators as we launch the Parliamentary Review of the Copyright Act.
• Reforming the Copyright Board of Canada to ensure we support cultural content, pay our artists faster and reduce costs for all parties.

2. Promote discovery and distribution of Canadian content at home and globally.

• Announcing an agreement with Netflix – a global first – to invest $500 million in original productions in Canada over five years; to support French-language content through a $25 million market development strategy; to create Netflix Canada – a first of its kind production company for Netflix outside the United States; and to implement measures to ensure Canadians and Netflix subscribers across the world can discover Canadian films and television shows.
• Expanding market access and export opportunities through an investment of $125 million in Canada’s first Creative Export Strategy.
  • Launching the first federal cultural trade mission in 2018.
  • Continuing to build capacity with cultural trade officers in key markets.
  • Supporting market access and promotional opportunities through the Canada Music Fund, Canada Book Fund, and Canada Arts Presentation Fund.
  • Introducing a new Creative Export Fund in 2018 to help Canadian creators achieve their international business objectives.
  • Promoting Canadian creators and audiovisual content in key markets in Europe and Asia with a new $2.5 million investment in Telefilm in 2017-18.
  • Establishing a Creative Industries Council, co-chaired by the Minister of Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, to develop strategies to coordinate Canada’s international presence and brand.
• Partnering with the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) in Waterloo and the Global Digital Policy Incubator at Stanford University, towards an international, multi-stakeholder forum in 2018 to explore policy approaches to promote diversity of content online.
• Seeking commitments and agreements with other new digital players that have emerged as key elements of Canada’s digital creative landscape to invest in the creation, distribution and discovery of Canadian content.
• Launching a review of the Broadcasting Act and Telecommunications Act.
• Invoking the government’s power under Section 15 of the Broadcasting Act to request the CRTC report back to the government on the extent to which future distribution models will support the creation, production and distribution of Canadian entertainment and information programming in both official languages.

3. Strengthen public broadcasting and support local news.

• Renewing the mandate of the CBC/Radio-Canada as part of the review of the Broadcasting Act.
• Established new independent selection committee and open, transparent appointment process for CBC/Radio-Canada for the selection of the Corporation’s leadership.
• Supporting local news through the Canada Periodical Fund, working to better reflect an increasingly digital world and the reading choices of Canadians.
• Working with Internet companies to help jumpstart digital news innovation by facilitating initiatives like a new partnership between Facebook and Ryerson’s Digital Media Zone and Ryerson School of Journalism to create Canada’s first digital news incubator.
• Continue to work with digital media companies and not-for-profit organizations to invest in initiatives that support Canadians of all ages in growing their digital awareness and news literacy skills.

Conclusion

To deliver on this vision of Creative Canada, the approach is deliberately ambitious and distinctively Canadian. It ought to be: Canada has everything it needs to be a world leader in its creative industries. It will continue to be based on our country’s commitment to linguistic duality, pluralism and a renewed relationship with Indigenous peoples. It will build on the success of our industries, the talent of our creators and the strength of our national institutions.