By Rob Anderson

Wildrose MLA and Culture Critic

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.

It would seem this sage advice has gone unheard by Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett as his department was once again caught dishing out taxpayer money to extremist environmental filmmakers who used it to produce Tipping Point: The Age of Oilsands, which explains to viewers how the oilsands are “transforming Canadian wilderness into wasteland.” The cost to Alberta taxpayers for this little gem: $239,000.

What’s worse, this amount is almost 5 times as large as the amount the PCs gave another anti-oilsands flick last year called Dirty Oil. Despite the outcry for that wasteful and destructive use of taxpayer dollars, apparently the PCs were unmoved by Albertan’s disapproval.

Although most of us are now aware that compared with other similar developments around the word (i.e. coal mines and other oilsands deposits) the Alberta oilsands are being developed with some of the strictest environmental standards possible, for many outside of Alberta, this propaganda is where they will get their information about our oilsands from. Along with the PCs atrocious record of defending our most valuable resource, is it any wonder why projects like the Keystone Pipeline are hitting so many road blocks and protests.

There is a larger issue as well. Every year, the PCs sign off on millions of dollars in direct grants to filmmakers.

The fact is, without a direct handout from the Provincial Government, many of these D-list films would never even be made, or at least not at any level of decent production quality or widespread distribution. Our Government, your tax dollars, is exactly what these misguided and uneducated filmmakers need to pursue their dreams…which is ultimately to shatter ours.

Of course, most of the PC leadership candidates when asked about this silliness waxed eloquently about the need not to be guilty of censorship and that such funding is necessary to keep up a strong movie industry in Alberta.

This of course is complete nonsense.

The Wildrose is proposing a much better way. Ontario, Manitoba and other provinces found a solution to this problem a long time ago. In order to be competitive and attract filmmakers from around the world they instituted a tax credit that rewards filmmakers for spending money in their province AFTER they have spent it. It’s even-handed and applies to all.

And here is the biggest difference from the PC direct grant program. Direct grants to filmmakers can be leveraged to make a movie that might not otherwise have been privately funded. Tax credits don’t work this way of course. Movies like Tipping Point or Dirty Oil would not likely see the light of day if it were not for direct government funding. Epics like A River Runs Through It, on the other hand, will be filmed without the need of government funding at all. The only question these A-list producers ask is where to film their movie – not can I afford it without public funding. This is where filmmakers will look at things like the tax credit regime, scenery, and other factors to make the determination. If Alberta competes toe-to-toe with places like Ontario on the tax credit side – our scenery and skilled labour force give us a huge leg up. Then instead of competing for the low budget, government sponsored D-list movies, we can compete for the billion dollar A-list cash cows.

As for the issue of censorship, I’ll tell you what I think (this is your MLA talking and not Wildrose policy mind you). If a movie is a direct attack on the economic or other vital interests of Alberta, why should we help pay for it (tax credit or direct grant) at all? Obviously, free speech dictates that such movies must be allowed to be produced and shown; but what part of free speech dictates that we as taxpayers have to pay for propaganda meant to hurt us? We elect governments and appoint Ministers to protect our vital interests and hold them accountable for their decisions at elections – why should this be any different?

Handing out millions in tax dollars to moviemakers without accounting for their purpose or content in the name of free speech isn’t enlightened…it’s just PC (politically correct and progressive conservative) nonsense.