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OTTAWA — Liberals are vowing to amend the government's film tax credit legislation at the risk of triggering a federal election, insisting they will not let bureaucrats decide what Canadians can watch.
But the NDP expressed skepticism Thursday that the Liberals will ultimately back up their tough talk, noting a recent pattern of Liberals backing down on key issues when it comes time to vote.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty raised the stakes this week in the battle over whether Ottawa should fund films that include gratuitous violence or objectionable sex scenes. He declared this week that amendments to Bill C-10 would not be tolerated on the grounds that tax changes are a matter of confidence in the government.
The legislation contains hundreds of pages of technical tax changes, including one that would empower Ottawa to draft rules denying tax credits to films deemed contrary to public policy. Liberals say they'd like to follow the advice of the film and television industry with an amendment that limits the rejection of credits to material that violates Criminal Code provisions, such as hate speech.
Liberals in the House of Commons and in the Senate – where the legislation is now being debated – insist experts are overwhelmingly against the bill's current wording.
“If [the government] doesn't want to make an amendment, I will certainly propose an amendment. That's for sure,” Liberal Senator Francis Fox said.
Liberal MP and party heritage critic Denis Coderre echoed that view. “Do we want to have a society that will bring censorship?” he asked.
Conservatives reject the accusations of censorship, but have shown a mixed degree of enthusiasm for the legislation.
While in opposition, the Reform Party branch of what is now the Conservative Party of Canada regularly attacked the Liberal government for funding movies such as Bubbles Galore that included graphic sex. Now in government, some backbench Conservatives have called for federal film funding to focus on “mainstream” films suitable for family viewing.
Ministerial officials have insisted the finance bill has nothing to do with such family-values lobbying and that the measure was first included in a 2003 Liberal bill inspired by a planned film about serial killer Paul Bernardo.
Comments – caught on tape – by Conservative Senator David Angus, who chairs the Senate banking committee studying the bill, gave a strong sense that Heritage Minister Josée Verner is not pleased by the current debate.
“The government has to bite the bullet. … The minister agrees. She told me she hates the law,” the senator said, unaware that his microphone was still on.
When speaking privately, Conservative strategists often divide issues in terms of “sword” and “shield.” A sword issue would be crime or taxes, which they feel play to political strengths and can be used to attack the other parties. Conversely, a shield issue for Tories would include the environment, where party strategy is focused on defending itself from opposition attacks.
One strategist said Conservatives see the film issue as a sword, or political winner, in Western Canada. However, it appears to be more of a shield for the party in Quebec, where federal film funding has not historically been controversial.
Conservatives have had success lately by threatening elections as a way of getting legislation approved by the minority Parliament.
