Legistlating Can-Con May Not Grow Us a Better Movie Industry

Many people attribute the viability of Canada's music industry to the percentage of air play at Canadian radio stations reserved for our artists. There is talk of adopting similar rules for theatres across Canada to increase viewership of Canadian movies. As tantalizing an idea as it may be to the Canadian film buff, there are a few differences at play that may work to the advantage of TV & Radio stations, but may not translate as well to the theatres.

First, many radio stations fulfill their Can-Con requirements by playing those Canadian artists that are international superstars. Avril Lavigne, Shania Twain and Bryan Adams. These are Canadians who established themselves elsewhere and would've received airplay even without the regulations. This serves to undermine the spirit of the mandate that suggests:

"Reflecting Canadians to Canadians, as much as they contribute to shaping our common values, our history, geography, our linguistic and cultural diversity also make Canadians different from one other. Differences exist within communities and from region to region across the country."

For film, unfortunately, it is a much more daunting task to produce a film about Canada physically outside of Canada. Those that are made by Canadian directors such as Deepa Mehta and certain Atom Egoyan films such as Felicia's Journey oddly come off as foreign because they are made in and about foreign countries.

The second problem with Can Con in cinemas is that radio and television is generally considered "free" to the common person. Radio is also generally a background element in the car or at work. To devote a movie screen to a Canadian movie will not guarantee "bums in seats". Canadians may not shell out $10.50 to see a movie they're not interested in and Canadian films may still go unseen even though they're readily available.

Radio and Television stations also have the luxury of broadcasting all night long. In fact some TV stations intentionally show much of their Canadian content in those non-peak hours. Theatres however, generally run a limited number of shows in afternoons and evenings. They may be inclined to show their Canadian films in non peak time slots, or they may even create new time slots - Wednesday mornings at 10 am, perhaps?

Of course, one could legislate theatres to show Canadian movies at peak times, however, this would likely be the source of friction between theatre owners and legislators, which is ultimately a knock to the dignity and reputation of Canadian filmmaking.