A U.S. film industry group has filed a trade action against Canada over subsidy programs for the Canadian film industry.

The Film and Television Action Committee (FTAC), a Hollywood group that aims to keep film jobs in the U.S., has filed a 301 petition with the U.S. Trade Representative office asking for an investigation into Canada's film subsidies.

FTAC calls both provincial subsidies and federal tax credits "unfair trade practices" and says they violate existing trade agreements.

The USTR has 30 days to decide whether to investigate the complaint.

Stephen Waddell, national executive director of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, the union that represents Canadian actors, says he doesn't expect the trade action to get to the investigation stage, because no Hollywood studios are behind it.

"The studios love the production incentives in Canada," he told CBC News. "They recognize filmmaking is a global business. Hollywood isn't the only place where you can make movies."

But he fears FTAC hopes to make an example of Canada and push through an investigation that could lead to trade sanctions, either under NAFTA or the World Trade Organization.

FTAC claims the U.S. has lost 47,000 jobs per year and an estimated $23 billion US in economic benefits in feature filmmaking since 2000, citing data from the Center for Entertainment Industry Data.

It has hired a Washington law firm to press its case and is lobbying Congress representatives on the issue. It lists a dozen affiliated unions that back its fight.

However, it does not enjoy the support of the U.S. actors union, the American Federation of Radio Television Artists (AFTRA), nor the powerful Motion Picture Association of America.

ACTRA calls FTAC's data seriously flawed, pointing out that employment in the U.S. film industry is up since 2000.

A 2004 study for Film Ontario, a coalition of industry groups that includes both producers and ACTRA, found the direct impact on the industry in the U.S. was much lower.

In 1998, indirect economic impact on the U.S. of filming in Canada was $1.69 billion, Film Ontario found.

And while the amount of film production in Canada increased in the five-year period to 2003, since then it has been sliding because of the high Canadian dollar.

"The real problem this year has been there is not enough work to sustain a living for our Canadian actors and workers," Waddell said.

At the same time, more than $1.3 billion flowed out of Canada to the U.S. annually in cinema admissions, sales and rental of videocassettes and DVDs, and broadcast licence fees.

"One of the ironies is that if it was found that Canadian subsidies did violate NAFTA, then that would make [films] into goods and services. Then we could take action against the U.S. networks for dumping their products into the Canadian television market," Waddell said.

Cultural products enjoy special protection under NAFTA.

ACTRA has vowed to fight the action, by renewing calls to Canadian politicians to maintain its support for the Canadian industry.

"The bitter irony in this dispute is that we are drowning in U.S. product on TV and in the movie theatres," ACTRA national president Richard Hardacre said in a statement.

"It's difficult to find a Canadian film in a Canadian theatre with all the U.S. blockbusters dominating our screens. Yet this upstart organization has the nerve to insist we stop filming in Canada," he said.