Heritage Minister Bev Oda has drawn fire from the New Democratic Party for failing to rebuke Canada's cable companies over their opposition to the Canadian Television Fund.

NDP Heritage critic Charlie Angus has criticized her reaction to the cable firms' decision to renege on paying for Canadian production.

"Now we have the cable giants taking it upon themselves to dictate to the minister the terms by which they will, or will not, live up to their obligations to the CTF," Angus said in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

"The fact is, these corporations have no business dictating the terms of their licence."

Oda met with representatives of Canada's five major cable companies in Ottawa  on Tuesday and pledged to pass their concerns on to the CTF within the next few days.

Oda called the meeting "insightful" in a statement issued Tuesday evening.

"I understood that there have been concerns with the CTF for many years, and that those concerns of the private sector contributors have not been fully satisfied," she said in the statement.

Shaw Communications Inc. of Calgary and Vidéotron Ltée, a unit of Montreal's Quebecor, have announced they will suspend their payments to the CTF — representing about $74 million of its annual $250-million budget.

Oda should have rebuked the cable firms for withdrawing their financial support for the CTF, which ensures production of Canadian television programs, Angus said.

Made request to minister

Shaw and Vidéotron have asked the minister for a review of the governance and terms of the CTF and of the contribution that goes to programs that air on the CBC.

Angus charged that Oda has never backed private sector support of the CTF, citing a dissenting decision she wrote in 1993 when she was a CRTC commissioner.

"We are prepared to recognize the cable industry's voluntary offer to provide funding for Canadian program production," Oda wrote.

"In accepting this latter point, we note the commission has not determined that the cable industry has any inherent responsibility to provide direct support for the production industry," she wrote.

Angus urged Oda to "lay down the rules" for the cable firms to ensure that Canadian production thrives.

"Without the fund, Canadians would fall even further behind the rest of the industrialized world as the biggest consumer of foreign TV programs," he said in a letter to the minister released Tuesday.

Oda announced last week the Conservative government would contribute $200 million to the CTF over the next two years — that is the same contribution rate Ottawa has made to the CTF in the last two years.

"This announcement was made to demonstrate the government's commitment to Canadian content and the Canadian broadcasting system. It was made to provide some stability to the production of quality Canadian programming," Oda said in her statement Tuesday.

Oda's office said the purpose of the meeting with the cable companies was to try to understand the cable industry's position.