What starts with “C”? China, Canada, Censorship, C-10, Cronenberg…

Government censorship. Brrrrrrrr......

We cringe whenever we hear about actors being banned from working in China, just because the movies they starred in show adult aspects of relationships between people, and how those aspects influence both the characters and their surroundings.

But that’s just China, right? I mean, we’re used to them being a tad Draconic when they feel threatened.

Alas, issues like these often hit closer to home, although the rules are more shady or their existance are downright denied.
Take Canada. According to these articles on the CBCnews.ca site and the National Post website, a new bill called ”C-10” is before the Canadian senate which holds a few changes on the Income Tax Act.
Right now, film projects in Canada get a hefty tax cut and you can be sure an ‘edgy’ project teetering on the very edge of its (difficult to attain) budget will be dependent on this. 
The changes which are now being discussed propose the following: productions deemed offensive or not in the public interest can be labelled “unsuitable” and therefore ineligable for tax credits.

Huh?
Oooooh… Kayyyy. Who would be doing the deeming and labelling? A panel of heritage and Justice representatives, behind closed doors.

Hm. Hm. 
I know there is a Bruce LaBruce zombie movie coming but this seems a bit of an overreaction.
Mind you, this still has to pass into legislation, so there are no stories of this being used unfairly. Yet.

David Cronenberg (who earns himself a place in this page’s picture) is rather against the bill, calling the panel “a layer of censorship”. He had more to say of course, and so have the people in favor of the bill, so please go read the articles.

Yet what is “not in the public interest”, and when is legislation inappropriate? Doesn’t the government have ANY right ever to say “no” to content it may find objectionable? We all agree child pornography should not be government-sponsored, so don’t claim there are no bounderies here.

It’s an interesting discussion to be sure, one that was raging through the Netherlands a few weeks back when the old porn movie ”Deep Throat” was broadcast on a state-owned channel, paid by government funds…


And Thanks go to forumer “verisimilitude” who alerted us in the forum.