Step up, or fade away

Like many discriminating Canadians, Jean-Pierre Blais seems to have been struck by a bad case of Borgen envy.

Which is to say that the head of the CRTC, our beleaguered broadcast regulator, finds it frustrating that a tiny country like Denmark (with less than half the population of Ontario) can produce outstanding, world-leading television (such as the cult political series Borgen), while Canada limps along behind, churning out TV shows that rarely manage to be better than mediocre.

This, in a nutshell, is why under Blais’s leadership the CRTC is finally overhauling outdated Canadian content rules that have resulted in a flood of low-budget, mostly bland shows that not even Canadians want to watch. It’s dropping CanCon requirements in daytime hours and calling on broadcasters to “put the focus on quality rather than quantity.”

This direction at least has the great merit of acknowledging the revolution in viewing habits that has overturned every assumption about broadcasting and programming. We are in what Blais labelled the “Age of Abundance” for consumers of video content — and technology allows all of us to watch when we want, how we want. There’s no way to make Canadians watch CanCon if it isn’t as compelling as what they can easily find on specialty channels, Netflix, YouTube and the rest.

Who knows if it will work? There are no guarantees, and Blais is challenging the country’s writers and producers to step up and compete with the best in the world. “If it’s possible for Britons, Australians and Danes to create world-class television programs and films,” he asks, “why not us?”

An excellent question, especially coming from the chairman of an agency that has spent nearly half a century constructing a sheltered workshop for Canadian broadcasters. The stated goal was worthwhile: encouraging Canadians to tell Canadian stories. But the result has sold us short. We deserve much better than we’ve been getting.

Certainly, there’s no shortage of Canadian talent and creative energy. As Blais pointed out in a speech last week laying out the changes, this country is among the top exporters of musical talent in the world. And Canadian writers sell all over the globe. There’s no inherent reason why Canadians can’t match the best in television and film.

One thing holding the industry back, Blais suggested, is the convoluted and outmoded point system used to decide whether content qualifies as “Canadian.” It traces its origins back to a 1926 conference, he noted, and the CRTC wants to drop it in favour of a more flexible system. “As long as the story is told by a Canadian,” he said, “let’s get the best talent working on it and make something that will conquer the world.” That sounds promising.

Even with these changes, the CRTC is barely inching into the 21st century. Far from leading the charge for change, it is scrambling to catch up with enormous and unstoppable forces that have rendered much of what it does irrelevant.

Loosening the CanCon rules may make it easier for producers and broadcasters to make great, compelling content — but it’s no guarantee they will rise to the challenge. Encouraging quality rather than quantity is fine as far as it goes, but it doesn’t necessarily go very far. Many producers will argue they need to create a lot of content to increase the odds of coming up with something spectacular. It’s an art, after all, not a science.

And the CRTC is just scratching the surface on the changes sweeping the television industry. It ducked the issue of a so-called “Netflix tax” that would force foreign-based streaming services to contribute to Canadian content. As more and more people dump conventional television and cable services entirely in favour of streaming, that will become a pressing question.

Still, Blais has at least taken on board the central challenge facing Canadian producers and broadcasters: the need to compete with the best in the world, whether they be Danish or American. The alternative is increasing irrelevance, even in our own backyard.

The CRTC is finally overhauling outdated Canadian content rules