Save B.C. Film? Who from? What for?

[hobbyguy]

Chasing a rabbit down a hole...

The "race to the bottom" of public money subsidizing industries to get what? net benefit. The whole thing reminds me of the sorry saga of the city of Glendale and the Phoenix Coyotes. The film business is the business of illusion - and very good at it. The illusion is that the jobs in the film industry will last if you just subsidize a little more - until a "Glendale" decides to undercut you and subsidize a little more. The end game is that the industry would like us to pay them for the privilege of them making movies. It is quite clear that this is a sucker's game. When you realize that you are in a sucker's game, you have two choices: get out or continue to be a sucker.

I have to emphasize with the folks who work in the B.C. film industry, but they need to realize that they have been involved in an illusion. Sustainable jobs can not be reliant on permanent and ever growing subsidy.

I understand that the intent of "encouraging" the film industry was to create permanent jobs. Those jobs were, however, "poached" from someone else, and it not at all surprising that a new player (players) is now "poaching" those jobs away.

A series of policies has turned Canada back into "hewers of wood and drawers of water" that the decades of the 50's and 60's sought to alleviate. High resource prices mean that Canada's currency is riding high - which as previously posted works against us in the quest to keep these jobs. The goose appears to be cooked for the BC film industry no matter what is done.

[goatboy]

I wonder how many other businesses would flourish if they received a 50% tax incentive?