A coalition of 18 artist and business groups from across Canada has asked Canadian Heritage Minister Josée Verner to rein in the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission.

The CRTC, under chairman Konrad von Finckenstein, has made a series of market-oriented decisions that marks a drift toward deregulation, the groups said at a conference in Montreal on Monday.

Part of the role of the federal broadcast regulator is to protect Canadian culture and it is failing in that mandate, claims the coalition, which issued a release on Wednesday outlining its position.

Protecting Canadian content should be a key priority in CRTC decision-making, the coalition said.

The 18 groups include unions and trade organizations representing Quebec actors, filmmakers, musicians, theatre talent, dancers and producers, as well as the Canadian actors' union, ACTRA and the Canadian Music Publishers' Association.

"The [Broadcast] Act clearly obligates the CRTC to give primary consideration to the broadcasting system's social and cultural contribution to Canada's cultural identity," said Paul Dupont-Hébert, president of Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo (ADISQ).

"It does not ask the CRTC to become an agent of deregulation."

Among the CRTC policies that have alarmed artists groups are proposed new policies for commercial radio and live television and a proposal for a more "market-oriented" Canadian Television Fund.

The CRTC even seems willing to challenge well-established policies such as Canadian content and French language music quotas on broadcast radio, the group said.

Richard Hardacre, national president of the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, challenged Verner publicly at a Quebec music awards ceremony on Sunday.

The CRTC began backing down from defending Canadian culture in 1999, when it refused to consider regulation on internet content, he told the heritage minister.

"For some years now, certain decision-makers in Ottawa have been using the burgeoning development on the technological front as a pretext for saying that our cultural policies are outdated," Hardacre said.

Are cultural policies outdated?

"They are making a serious mistake. Casting doubt on our cultural policies is casting doubt on our culture. It's casting doubt on Canada."

The coalition urged Verner to issue policy direction for the CRTC to reestablish the contributions of broadcasters to Canadian culture as a priority in making decisions.

"In Canada, cultural policies form a whole that is altogether necessary to developing the talent of our artists," said Raymond Legault, president of Union des artistes (UDA).

"By removing one stone, you threaten the entire structure. When the CRTC no longer strongly supports the policies under its responsibility, it sends a message that all of our cultural support framework can be called into question."

The CRTC begins hearings next month into the purchase of Alliance Atlantis by CanWest Global and its U.S. partner Goldman Sachs and will issue a decision on the future of the Canadian Television Fund in December. 
 

With files from the Canadian Press