Canadian Film Industry Worries

With Arnold Schwarzenegger acting as California’s new governor, Canada is worried the superstar will flex his political muscles to keep movie productions in his home state. Schwarzenegger has often bragged that he shifted filming of Terminator 3 back to California from Vancouver, and Canadian producers worry he will create incentives and use his star power to encourage other productions to remain in California as well. This scenario would be very damaging to the Canadian film industry, which is already suffering because of SARS and the higher value of the dollar. In the past, high subsidies have lured as much as three quarters of US film productions to Canada. The US Film and Television Action Committee contends that the impact on the US economy is about $10-billion (U.S.) a year, and has long lobbied the US government to use the provisions of the North American Free-Trade Agreement to get the Canadian subsidies removed. – YaleGlobal