March 2nd 2008

The Lilith eZine Sunday Edition

Letter from the Editor

I am so upset I feel like screaming.

A fundamentalist Christian group called the Canada Family Action Coalition has succeeded in convincing the Canadian conservative government in passing a bill that will see tax refunds be pulled for any movie that contains sex, violence or homosexuality... basically anything that is remotely controversial. The end result is that any Canadian film containing sex, violence or homosexuality will be censored.

A prime example is the movie "Breakfast with Scot", a comedy about two gay men (one of which is a hockey player) raising a young boy.

On television today Charles McVety, the president of the Canada Family Action Coalition verbally attacked the director of "Breakfast with Scot", saying that the new bill would cut funding for such controversial films that promote "gay propaganda". McVety claims that the gay men in the movie molested the boy, but he obviously hasn't even seen the movie at all. It is a COMEDY! Not a porn film.

So apparently gays and lesbians can get married in Canada, but we can't make movies about it?

Unlike the United States, Canada has a very unstable film industry. We NEED the government tax credits to make films in Canada. Without them our directors and producers would make their movies in the USA or overseas where it is cheaper.

Charles McVety argues that he doesn't want his tax dollars going towards filth and pornography... except Canada's porn industry doesn't get these tax credits (please note they are TAX CREDITS, not tax dollars as he claims).

Currently, the federal heritage department tax credit program excludes talk shows, game shows, advertising, corporate videos and pornography from receiving tax credit support. The new bill would also exclude films containing any sexual, violent or homosexual content.

Canadian actors and movie directors are not taking this action lying down. Canadian directors David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley are actively protesting the proposed changes which are currently before the Canadian senate.

Under the new changes directors making any film that contains sex or violence would be financially impossible. Canada's film industry would fall apart and only boring non-controversial films would be made. Anything controversial would have to be made in the USA or overseas.

It makes me so angry... I wish religious wackos would just mind their own business. The rest of us still enjoy those movies and we have rights too.


Sincerely,
Suzanne MacNevin


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The Canada eZine
Conservative Christian groups want to censor sex, homosexuality and violence in Canadian films.

The Environmental eZine
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The Fashion eZine
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The Health eZine
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The Politics eZine
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The Technology eZine
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