Censorship concerns over Olympic trademarks bill

http://www.straight.com/article-77756/news-from-the-art-world

A new federal bill aimed at protecting trademarks of the 2010 Winter Olympics has raised red flags among local artists and legal groups. Bill C-47 , which was introduced by Industry Minister Maxime Bernier and passed its first reading in the House of Commons on March 2, prohibits the use of certain Olympic-associated symbols, slogans, and phrases in connection with businesses that are not official Olympic sponsors. The bill also prohibits the use of "a mark that so nearly resembles an Olympic or Paralympic mark as to be likely to be mistaken for it".

Martha Rans , lawyer and legal director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture's Artists Legal Outreach, told the Straight she has a number of concerns about the legislation. "The problem with the act, overall, is its breadth and the potential that people could run afoul of it without meaning to," she said. "I'd be very concerned if I was perhaps already using sport motifs, that I might find some of my images censored."

In addition to referring to proprietary symbols, slogans, and phrases, the bill sets out two lists of words and expressions; those on one list cannot be used in conjunction with those on the other. These include Games , 21st , and Tenth on one list and Winter , Vancouver , and Gold on the other.

The act does allow a number of excepted uses, including news reports and "purposes of criticism", but does not explicitly exempt comedians, satirists, filmmakers, musicians, or visual artists. "Certainly [for] humorists, satirists, legitimate artists wanting to paint legitimate pictures of Olympic events, photographers–there may be clearly some tricky issues," said Andrew Wilhelm-Boyles , executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture .

Legislation similar to Bill C-47 was enacted in Australia for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. As a result, an Australian animal-rights activist was forced to stop distributing T-shirts that depicted a hen in a cage with five eggs, because the Australian Olympic Committee believed the eggs resembled the five-ring symbol.

Rans is concerned that artists in the city will not have the means to fight back if served with cease-and-desist letters from VANOC. "The difference between here and Australia is that Australia has six solicitors who work full-time providing legal advice and representations to artists," she noted. "If somebody was on the receiving end of some kind of action by the Sydney Games, they were able to fight it without going into bankruptcy.…Most artists, theatre companies, any of those entities [in Vancouver]–where would they find the $5,000 to $10,000 minimum that it would cost to retain a lawyer in private practice in this city?"

Rans said she is particularly concerned about a section of the legislation that allows a court to direct the federal minister of public safety to detain imported wares, with or without notice, if they violate the terms of the act prohibiting the unauthorized use of trademarks.

"If you really want to get Orwellian about it, you can think, 'Jeez, I've written a book describing the egregiousness of the Olympics, and emblazoned on the cover of the book are Olympic rings,'" she said. "That provision would give somebody the opportunity to get an order [to detain the books], without even giving notice to the publisher, who's importing the books from China because they've outsourced the printing."

Bill Cooper , director of corporate rights and management for VANOC, insisted the new legislation was drafted to target ambush marketing, not artists. "We feel that those groups [artists, satirists, and humorists] are more than adequately protected because the bill doesn't speak to diminishing their wherewithal and, more importantly, because we have absolutely no intent to pursue that, because it would not help us at all," he told the Straight . "It would certainly not behoove us to be seen to be, in any way, stifling artistic expression."

Gamelan Extravaganza

On Saturday, March 31, 2007 at 6:00 – 10:00 p.m., the Consulate General of Indonesia in Vancouver will organize “Gamelan Extravaganza” at the Centennial Theatre, 2300 Lonsdale Avenue, North Vancouver. This year will be a special one commemorating its 20th anniversary of gamelan in Vancouver. 20 years ago, gamelan orchestra made its first debut in Vancouver, bringing a number of highly respected musicians who were present in Vancouver at that time. Sardono W. Kusumo and his wife, Amna Sahap Kusumo, were two important artists who brought together an international community of artists and scholars at the first International Gamelan Festival in Vancouver during the World Exposition in1986.

The gamelan has become increasingly important in Vancouver since the 1986 Expo. Now, there are four gamelan orchestras in Vancouver which are representatives of the three main gamelan styles of Indonesia: the Javanese, Sundanese, and Balinese Gamelan. There are three major universities in Vancouver which have been actively supporting the gamelan groups in Vancouver. The School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University has offered a Javanese gamelan course every spring and summer semester since 1990. Sutrisno Hartana has been actively become the director of this group for couple years. The School of Music at University of British Columbia has, since 1996, under the direction of Dr. Michael Tenzer, professor at the UBC School of music, developed Sekaha Gong Gita Asmara, translated as the “Gamelan Club of the Sound of Love”. The Vancouver Community College Music Department under the direction of Jon Siddall has also a Sundanese gamelan called Si Pawit, or “The Beginning” which is now in use for their course. Another group of the Indonesian community has formed Gamelan Kyai Madu Sari, “The Venerable Essence of Honey.” Mark Parlett has been actively involved in directing Gamelan Madu Sari since 1992.

Gamelan is a musical ensemble consisting mainly of traditional percussion instruments which may be made of bronze, iron, bamboo, or wood, as well as bronze and iron gongs, gong chimes, cymbals, bells, and drums (kendhang), sometimes accompanied by singers (pesindhen) and a two-stringed bowed lute, called rebab.

The traditional gamelan usually performs for a variety of events including accompanying dance or puppet shows and sometimes playing compositions from ancient times to current modern life. The most famous gamelans are from Java and Bali. In some places within Indonesia, the gamelan has been enjoyed and performed by Javanese, Sundanese, or Balinese people in social levels ranging from beggars on the streets to the kings at the palaces. Typically, traditional gamelan performances occur at family celebrations such as weddings, circumcisions, and birthdays, but in the twentieth century it has also spread to radio broadcast, television, recording, and so on.

For this 20th anniversary of gamelan, we are hopeful that you will bring your family and friends to this special event which is open to the public and free. Original Indonesian food will be for sale.

House prices continue to increase across Canada: Royal LePage

TORONTO (CP) - Canada's housing market got off to a strong start in 2007 with average prices rising in all major markets, according to Royal LePage Real Estate Services (TSX:RSF.UN). It says a combination of consumer confidence, moderately low interest rates and improved affordability led to greater sales in the first quarter.

Royal LePage says the highest average price appreciation was in standard condominiums, which rose 16.3 per cent to $230,146 year-over-year.

Detached bungalow prices rose 14.9 per cent to an average $316,993 and standard two-storey properties increased 11.8 per cent in price to $378,148.

Fuelled by the energy sector, Alberta's economy continued to show extremely high price appreciation and that spilled over into Saskatchewan. Year-over-year condo prices rose 72.1 per cent in Edmonton, 38.9 per cent in Calgary and 42.9 per cent in Saskatoon.

Royal LePage says more moderate increases were noted in the central and eastern regions of the country.

Obese kids creating generation that will live shorter lives than parents

OTTAWA (CP) - A shocking epidemic of childhood obesity is creating the first generation of Canadians that will live shorter lives than their parents, says a report detailing staggering numbers of overweight youth. Twenty-six per cent of Canadians ages of two to 17, along with 55 per cent of natives on reserve and 41 per cent off-reserve of the same age are either overweight or obese, says the committee report. "We're killing our kids with kindness," warned Conservative MP Rob Merrifield, chairman of the Commons health committee which produced the report after nine months of consultations.

"Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in Canada," says the all-party report, adding Canada has one of the world's highest childhood obesity rates, ranking fifth among 34 OECD countries.

The federal government must ban trans-fats and immediately launch a public awareness campaign to warn of the looming health care crisis.

Obesity triggers a range of preventable chronic diseases and premature death, the panel says - serious enough for adults but even more serious to children, who may develop chronic ailments at an uncharacteristically early age, the MPs warn.

The risks include developing Type 2 diabetes, heart attack and stroke risk, joint problems and mental health issues.

"The committee was shocked to hear how much overweight and obesity rates among children and adolescents in Canada have increased over the past three decades," said the all-party report, entitled "Healthy Weight for Healthy Kids."

Fifteen per cent of children were either obese or overweight in 1978. That figure had ballooned to 26 per cent by 2004 - thanks largely, the panel reported, to bad diets and poor exercise habits bred by television and video games.

Children are too commonly eating larger portions, more fatty and processed foods, and drinking too many sugary drinks, the committee found.

"The link between obesity and the increased consumption of sweetened drinks is particularly disturbing," said its report. "It has been estimated that sugary drinks may be responsible for as much as one pound per month weight gain in adolescents."

The committee highlighted the correlation between food-and-beverage advertising and childhood obesity, particularly with respect to advertising of high-calorie and low-nutrient foods and beverages to children.

But it stopped short of recommending an all-out ban on children's food-and-beverage advertising, calling instead for a review of the industry's existing self-regulation regime.

"Such a review should indicate whether or how the two voluntary codes should be strengthened," it said.

"The committee is also concerned about the impact on children of food advertising on the Internet and believes the potential for regulation in this area must be examined."

General obesity costs Canada about $1.6 billion a year in health-care costs, or 2.4 per cent of total health spending. The panel said it costs the economy another $2.7 billion in lost productivity, disability insurance, reduced quality of life and mental health problems due to stigmatization and poor self-esteem."

Obesity outranks smoking and drinking in its impact on health and costs related to health-care, it said.

As overweight children of today become tomorrow's obese adults, the burden on the health care and social systems is expected to increase," cautions the 60-page report.

Among the rest of its 13 recommendations to the federal government:

-Set targets to achieve healthy weights for children through physical activity and healthy food choices, including halting the rise in childhood obesity by 2010 and reducing the rate of childhood obesity to at least six per cent from eight by 2020.

-Collaborate with First Nations and Inuit to curb obesity among aboriginal children.

-Help communities provide programs and facilities to promote active lifestyles.

-Increase public awareness of the importance of diet and exercise through programs such as Participaction.

-Implement a mandatory, standardized, simple, front-of-package labelling requirement on pre-packaged foods for easy identification of nutritional value and promote the plan to parents through an aggressive media campaign.

The Canadian Press, 2007

Alberta's come a long way in eliminating racism: Lieutenant-Governor Kwong

EDMONTON (CP) - When the Queen's representative in Alberta was just six or seven, he wanted to jump into a Calgary wading pool. But Norman Kwong's sister told him they couldn't because they were Chinese.

"I didn't understand why at that time, but I know that hearing that from her didn't make me feel very good," Alberta's lieutenant-governor said Sunday.

Kwong, who was born in 1929, said while he thought the people of Alberta were doing a good job at eliminating racism and discrimination, there was still work to be done.

"Diversity isn't the strange thing it was when I was growing up," the lieutenant-governor told the crowd attending the 10th anniversary of The Canadian Multicultural Education Foundation.

His parents came to Canada in the 1920s and they lived in a Calgary neighbourhood where his was one of only two Chinese families on the block.

"We were the only families that were of different colour than white. We were kind of looked on as strange because we had different customs and things," Kwong said.

"I also grew up in an Alberta where Chinese Canadians weren't allowed to vote and that didn't change until the year before I joined the CFL as a rookie Calgary Stampeder."

Kwong was 18 - the year was 1948 - when he became the first Chinese Canadian in the Canadian Football League and went on to win four Grey Cups - one with the Stampeders, three with the Edmonton Eskimos.

"Today, diversity isn't such a big deal, just go to any high school and look around at some of the students, it's just simply now a part of who were are as Albertans."

Kwong, who was named to the Order of Canada in 1998, said he decided to take the job as lieutenant-government partly because of his parents.

"I thought about what my parents went through as immigrants to Alberta in the 1920s because they were a very visible minority.

"Then I thought about how proud they would have been to see me serve as lieutenant-governor of the province and what my appointment would say about diversity in Alberta."

Kwong said he was reminded how far Alberta has progressed as he took part in preparations for Saturday's opening in Calgary of the Glenbow Museum's exhibit Mavericks - An Incorrigible History of Alberta.

The exhibit is based on the book of the same name by Aritha van Herk.

"?.?.That book talks about how early Alberta communities tried to keep minorities and new immigrants from succeeding and how those new Albertans were blamed pretty much every social problem in the province.

"But today they are recognized for the strength that they bring to our communities, they are celebrated and shared, rather than feared and shunned."

Rahim Jaffer, MP for Edmonton Strathcona, also praised Canada's open and tolerant society.

His family came to Canada in the 1970s as refugees from Uganda.

"And 25 years later to sit in the federal Parliament as a member of Parliament. Very few countries would allow that to happen so we should be very proud in Canada for that sort of thing that's been achieved," he said.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

CBC inks new deal with NHL, through 2014

(CBC) - The CBC and NHL announced a new television deal Monday that will keep Hockey Night in Canada on the air until 2014. The six-year broadcast deal, which includes national English-language broadcast and multimedia rights to NHL games in Canada, will begin when the current agreement between the CBC and the league expires after the 2007-08 season.

"Can you imagine seven more years of me? How can it get any better?" Don Cherry, co-host of Coach's Corner, told CBC Sports Online.

"I'm very happy. Hockey Night in Canada should be on the CBC: it's been on the CBC since the 1950s and this is where it belongs."

The CBC will maintain exclusive Canadian coverage of NHL games on Saturday nights, including traditional doubleheaders and more regional telecasts.

The CBC also retains exclusive Canadian coverage of the Stanley Cup Final, the NHL All-Star Game and the annual NHL Awards, and continued coverage of Canadian teams in the playoffs, ensuring national coverage of all Canadian clubs involved in the post-season.

Also, effective immediately, a multimedia package including live and on- demand video streaming of all CBC's hockey broadcasts will be available online at CBC.ca.

"Hockey is part of the Canadian fabric and we're proud and pleased to continue what is the longest-standing sports rights partnership in the world, one that dates back to the very beginning of the CBC," said Richard Stursberg, the executive vice-president of CBC Television.

"This is the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in our partnership. We'll be offering Canadians more hockey via more platforms than ever before."

CBC's Hockey Night in Canada is currently in its 54th season on television.

"CBC's Hockey Night in Canada has played an important role in building the passion that Canadians of all ages have for our game," said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

"The NHL is thrilled to continue our longstanding partnership with this great Canadian institution and build on a tradition that has become a staple for millions of Canadians from the time the first puck is dropped in October through the presentation of the Stanley Cup eight months later."

Monday's announcement was a big win for the CBC because the public broadcaster suffered some setbacks in negotiations for key television properties the past few years. In December 2006, the Canadian Football League announced a new five-year television contract with TSN, a deal that leaves the CBC watching from the sidelines once its current agreement with the league expires after the 2008 season. CBC also lost the rights to Canadian Curling Association properties, such as the Brier and Tournament of Hearts, to CTV-TSN in 2006. In 2005, a Bell Globemedia-Rogers Communications consortium won the rights to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver and the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. CBC had held Olympic broadcast rights since 1996.

CBC Sports responded to those losses by signing an eight-year agreement with FIFA that includes the rights to the next two World Cups, a four-year deal for alpine skiing and an eight-year contract for the World Curling Tour's Grand Slam events.

Japanese prime minister apologizes to Second World War-era sex slaves

TOKYO (AP) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, under fire for denying that Japan forced women to work as sex slaves during the Second World War, offered a fresh apology Monday but stopped short of clearly acknowledging the government's responsibility for the front-line brothels. "I express my sympathy toward the comfort women and apologize for the situation they found themselves in," Abe told a parliamentary debate, using a euphemism used by Japanese politicians to refer to former sex slaves.

"I apologize here and now as prime minister," he said.

Abe's apology was his clearest yet since the conservative leader triggered international furor earlier this month by saying there was no evidence that women were coerced into sexual service in the Second World War era.

Still, his remarks fell short of demands made by victims that Abe clearly acknowledge that the wartime military forced the women into prostitution.

Historians say that as many as 200,000 Asian women, mostly from Korea and China, worked in military-run brothels. Victims say they were forced into the brothels by the Japanese military and were held against their will.

But right-wing politicians, which make up a bulk of Abe's support base, have in recent weeks made renewed efforts to push for an official revision of the apology.

Conservative ruling party legislators argue that the women were professional prostitutes and were paid for their services, and maintain that the military authorities were not directly responsible for the establishment or running of the brothels.

Abe's earlier denial of coercion drew intense criticism from China and South Korea, which accuse Japan of failing to fully atone for wartime invasions and atrocities. Neither had any immediate reaction to his comments Monday.

The issue also has stirred debate in the United States, where a House committee is considering a non-binding resolution calling on Japan to fully acknowledge wrongdoing during the war and to make an unambiguous apology.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey called Abe's apology a step forward, but urged Japan to deal more resolutely with the issue.

"We certainly want to see the Japanese continue to address this and to deal with it in a forthright and responsible manner that acknowledges the gravity of the crimes that were committed," Casey said.

Abe on Monday rebuffed criticism in the U.S. media for his efforts to champion the cause of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents decades ago, while refusing to own up to Japan's own past kidnappings.

"(North Korea's) abductions and the comfort women issue are a completely different matter," Abe told reporters. "The issue of the abductees is an ongoing violation of human rights, while it is not as if the comfort women issue is continuing."

Abe had said previously he would not offer a fresh apology, saying the government expressed its remorse in a 1993 statement on the matter by then chief cabinet secretary Yohei Kono. Right-wing politicians who make up the bulk of Abe's support base have made renewed efforts in recent weeks to roll back that apology.


Japan has rejected most compensation claims from victims. Instead, a private fund created in 1995 by the Japanese government has provided a way to support former sex slaves without offering official government compensation.

Many women rejected the payments, demanding government compensation and a parliament-approved apology.

Also Monday, a Japanese court rejected demands for compensation of about $1.56 million by a group of Chinese forced to work as slave labourers at a Japanese mine during the Second World War, an official said.

The Miyazaki District court dismissed the lawsuit seeking damages from the Japanese government and Mitsubishi Metals Corp., formerly Mitsubishi Metal, that operated the mine during the war, court spokeswoman Tomomi Hirata said.

Kyodo News agency quoted the judge as saying the state has an obligation to pay damages but the 20-year deadline for filing compensation claims has expired.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

U.S. Treasury official, Chinese discuss frozen North Korea funds

BEIJING (AP) - A senior U.S. Treasury Department official held talks in China on Monday as part of efforts to untangle a dispute over North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank that led to a breakdown in talks over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
Daniel Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, met officials from China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the money held at Banco Delta Asia, a lender in the Chinese territory of Macau, said Glaser's spokeswoman Molly Millerwise.

North Korea walked out of six-nation disarmament talks last week because of a holdup in the release of the $25 million.

Glaser's meeting was "positive and cordial," with officials focused on "solutions to the implementation matters and our common interest in addressing this issue as quickly as possible," Millerwise said in an e-mail.

She said other U.S. officials in the talks included Jim Wilkinson, Treasury's chief of staff, and Jim Freis, Treasury's deputy assistant general counsel and incoming director of the Treasury's financial crimes enforcement network. She gave no other details.

The U.S. agreed to let the money be transferred to a North Korean account at the Bank of China in Beijing, but the release was delayed by the Chinese bank's concerns about accepting money that had been linked to counterfeiting and money laundering.

Authorities in Macau and China "have made clear that they want to ensure implementation of the agreement is consistent with their own laws and with their international obligations," Glaser said.

Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing spoke with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by telephone on Sunday to discuss bilateral relations "and progress of the six-party talks," a statement on the Chinese Foreign Ministry website said, without giving additional details.

Last week's talks were aimed at fine-tuning a Feb. 13 agreement under which North Korea would dismantle its nuclear programs in exchange for energy aid and political concessions, but they never got off the ground because of the drawn-out dispute over the money transfer.

North Korea refused to attend the talks, leading China to announce a recess on Thursday. No new start date was given, but the U.S. envoy, Christopher Hill, said it was "quite possible" the talks could start again within a week or two once the financial issue had been cleared up.

The U.S. first took action against Banco Delta Asia in 2005, putting it on a money-laundering blacklist for what the department determined were lax money-laundering controls. As a result, Macau regulators froze North Korean assets held by the bank.

That so angered Pyongyang that it refused to participate in six-nation nuclear arms talks for over a year, during which time it first test a nuclear weapon. The North returned to the talks in December, and the mid-February deal was struck in part because of an agreement to resolve the funds dispute within 30 days.

Wilkinson, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's top administrative aide, is a former close adviser to Rice, and a longtime Republican political operative in Washington. His participation is intended to assure Chinese banking authorities that Washington will not punish them for handling the North Korean assets, and to send a signal to all sides that the U.S. government is united in seeking a deal.

The Treasury and State departments have sometimes been at odds as they pursued separate goals with regard to North Korea. The Treasury inquiry into Banco Delta Asia preceded a landmark 2005 nuclear disarmament deal reached by U.S. State Department negotiators, and Treasury officials have viewed their concern over financial issues as a separate law enforcement matter.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

China bans stories about holdout homeowner

(CBC) - China's censors have banned further stories about a Chongqing homeowner who refused to sell out to developers.

China's State Council Information Service issued an urgent notice to the domestic print press and online media on Saturday banning future coverage of the so-called "nail house."

The story of 51-year-old restaurateur and martial arts champion Wu Yang and his wife, who refused to sell their house to make way for a shopping development, was on its way to becoming a national media sensation.

The builders have since excavated a 10-metre pit around Yang's house, so he is holed up there without water or electricity, threatening to use his martial arts skills against anyone who tries to dislodge him.

"Nail house" is a term used by developers to refer to homeowners who will not give up title to their property - because they are like a nail that keeps poking through even though it's knocked down with a hammer.

China's State Council passed a law earlier this year formally entrenching property rights.

About 200 residents in the area around Yang's house agreed to move, but Yang turned down an offer equivalent to $525,000 for his 219-square-metre house.

He has put a banner across the home reading "No violation of legitimate private property."

Chinese media had portrayed the story as a test of the new law enshrining property rights.

"If the government does not respect people's rights in the case, it will raise suspicions about the entanglement of civil rights, property development and government interests," China Youth Daily said in a story written before the ban, urging government to support Yang's position.

Even the China Daily, the main English-language newspaper controlled by the state, featured the story prominently on page 3 of its Saturday edition.

But 24 hours after the State Council issued its ban on coverage, internet carriers throughout the country had blocked blogs on the issue and no new stories were appearing in the state press.

A new blog called "The Nailhouse" on popular carrier Sina.com had more than 150,000 hits, but its content is now inaccessible.

The censorship directive ordered no more reporting and commenting on the "nail house events" and deletion of all feature pages, and mentioned by name the internet carriers Sohu.com, QQ.com, Netease.com and Sina.com.

Ont. retailers cashed $100 million in fraudulent lottery claims: ombudsman

TORONTO (CP) - "Unscrupulous" lottery-ticket retailers in Ontario have collected at least $100 million in fraudulent claims since 1999, thanks in large part to a "hopelessly conflicted" provincial agency that allowed the practice to persist, a government watchdog said Monday. In an investigation of jackpot wins by so-called lottery insiders, ombudsman Andre Marin showed no quarter to the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, which he said ignored allegations of fraud because it was "fixated on profit rather than public service."

"The OLG's oversight of retailers is non-existent," Marin told a news conference.

"The OLG has turned a blind eye to allegations of crime for many years. The OLG's scant documentation . . . reveals that $100 million were pocketed by insiders between 1999 and 2006."

Marin stopped short of calling for a ban on retailers buying lottery tickets, but said the government-owned corporation has too cozy a relationship with the thousands of men and women who sell its products - and are also some of its best customers.

"It has lost sight of the fact that it is supposed to be the guardian of the trust of the public," he said. "Without the trust that whoever has lady luck on their side will actually pocket the jackpot, confidence in our lottery is shattered."

Marin criticized the corporation for failing to keep track of how many retailers it has and how many have claimed jackpots, and called the OLG's "coddling" of retailers its "fatal flaw."

Customers who complained were rarely taken seriously, said Marin, who called the corporation's customer complaints department "rude and inept" when dealing with them.

"The problem with how the OLG dealt with allegations (of fraud by insiders) is that there was way too much hanky panky between retailers and the OLG," he said.

The government hailed the ombudsman's report as "incisive" and "well-balanced" and promised to implement its recommendations, including a proposal to give responsibility for regulating lottery tickets to the province's Alcohol and Gaming Commission.

"A new regulatory framework will provide the proper checks and balances to ensure that dishonest behaviour is identified, and appropriately dealt with," said David Caplan, the minister responsible for the OLG.

OLG's chief executive, Duncan Brown, resigned suddenly late last week, but the opposition parties suggested he was simply a scapegoat and called for Caplan's resignation.

"You cannot have people buying lottery tickets being ripped off . . .while the minister says 'I didn't know anything, I didn't hear anything,"' said NDP Leader Howard Hampton.

"Mr. Caplan has to go. He has no credibility."

Opposition Leader John Tory called the OLG an organization "that is out of control," and said pushing Brown out wasn't good enough.

"The integrity of Ontario's lottery system is in shambles, and (Premier) Dalton McGuinty has let that happen," said Tory.

"Getting rid of the head of OLG . . . is little more than scapegoating."

Marin said lottery officials who raised concerns about suspect claims by retailers in 2003 and 2004 - including one $12.5 million prize - were told by Brown: "Sometimes you hold your nose."

"The message has to be given from the top, and the message from the top of 'holding your nose' is not the message that you want to see," said Marin.

"This problem is deep within the bowels of the OLG."

OLG chairman Michael Gough said Monday that Brown would be paid $720,000 in severance, calling his resignation a "mutual" decision between Brown and the board.

Gough said the insider jackpot scandal hasn't hurt the lottery corporation's bottom line since it broke last October with the case of Bob Edmonds, a 78-year-old who was cheated out of his winnings by a lottery retailer.

"The fact is lottery ticket sales are in fact up," he said. "That's a . . .reflection of Ontarians' basic trust in this corporation."

Caplan said the government and OLG would try to find people who had their legitimate lottery winnings stolen by someone else and pay them the jackpot they were entitled to have.

The ombudsman's report also said the Ontario government has become "addicted to gambling revenues" of $6 billion a year, including the $2.3 billion generated annually by lotteries alone.

Ontario's embattled lottery corporation isn't the only one dogged by problems.

New Brunswick's ombudsman is looking into whether he can launch a probe into Atlantic Lottery Corp. following an internal report showing retailers won a disproportionate number of prizes exceeding $25,000 over a six-year period.

Another investigation was launched in British Columbia after the province's lottery corporation found retailers were winning six times more than the general public.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Sonic Diary: A Chinese Musician's Exploration of South Asia

A Talk and Presentation of Excerpts from Dadawa's (朱哲琴) new Film, "Sound Pilgrimage"

Date: March 28th, 7:00 PM
Venue: Asian Centre Auditorium, 1871 West Mall, Univesity of British Columbia

Synopsis:

In "Sound Pilgrimage", Chinese World Music Diva, Dadawa, and her co-Director, Oscar Winner Ross Kauffman, document Dadawa's 2006 musical voyages through South Asia and the Himalayas in search of the musical traditions so intertwined with each other and the rest of the world. On the way she encounters the solemn prayers of Islam in Kasmir, the cacophony of Old Delhi, the singing and dancing of itinerant Gypsy minstrels, and the folksongs of the Ganges and Himalayan regions. Dadawa delves into the three great religions of the Sub-Continent; Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism drawing a vivid sound map. Covering a brief 30 days, in cinema verite fashion, Kauffman uses his lens simply and genuinely to document Dadawa's natural and unique sonic diary, a counterpoint to her recent musical album, "Seven Days".

Biography:

Dadawa (aka Zhu Zheqin, 朱哲琴) is the first contemporary Chinese diva to achieve worldwide stardom. Dadawa is a native of Changsha, Hunan. She has traveled China and the world extensively as both a musician and adventurer. She is considered to be the pioneer 'indie' artist in China, having independently produced her music, videos and films for over a decade. Her recordings have won a host of awards including Taiwan's prestigious Golden Tripod Music 'Best Album' Award for her 1995 critically acclaimed "Sister Drum" and "Best Movie Soundtrack" at the Venice Film Festival for her soundtrack for the movie "Chinese Box". In December 2000, Dadawa performed her concert, 'Heavenly Music for Sentient Beings' in Beijing, which was selected by UNESCO as the opening cultural event of the International Year for Culture and Peace. In January 2002, the Hong Kong Government invited Dadawa to write, produce and perform her original multimedia musical spectacle, 'The Riddler'. Most recently, Dadawa completed a collection of completely new contemporary works in the album, 'Seven Days' and finished work on her related and first documentary film project, 'Sound Pilgrimage', in collaboration with Oscar winner, Ross Kauffman. 'Seven Days' became a top-ten CD in China in 2006, a remarkable accomplishment for an alternative music album in that market. Her work on this ground breaking CD was recognized in 2006 by an MTV Asia award for 'Leading Female Artist' and the Tom.com award for 'Most Influential Woman in Chinese Music'. Dadawa is also a nominee for the prestigious BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music. She is currently a visiting Artist in Residence at the Institute for Asian Research, at the University of British Columbia.

For more information in English please see:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/a4wm2007/2007_dadawa.shtml

In Chinese:
http://blog.sina.com.cn/zhuzheqin

Her most recent music video can be found here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8iikrlxJWw

Proudly presented by the Centre for Chinese Research at the Institute of Asian Research and the Department of Asian Studies, UBC

Canada must improve woeful trade record with India, chamber warns

OTTAWA (CP) - Canada's largest business group is sounding the alarm over this country's miserable trade and investment performance with a major emerging economic superpower - India. In a report to be issued Monday, the Canadian Chamber of Commerce details the poor record of firms and unfocused efforts by Canadian governments that have left Canada outside looking in on the tremendous potential of the world's second most populous country.

"We have a lot of catching up to do just to get on India's radar screen," said Chamber president Nancy Hughes Anthony.

"It's never too late, but obviously the longer you stay on the outside, the steeper the climb."

The 41-page document makes a series of recommendations for expanding the economic relationship with India, which along with China, has one of the world's fastest expanding economies with annual growth rates ranging from seven-to-nine per cent.

But despite several synergies and advantages, including the large Indo-Canadian diaspora, Canada last year exported a mere $1.7 billion in goods to India, the vast majority in primary commodities such as newsprint, metals and wheat. That represents only 0.5 per cent of Canadian exports and less than a quarter of what Australia ships to India.

Trade is penetrating into India. In the past five years, the country's imports have grown an average of 22 per cent annually and trade in the services sector has grown even faster. But Canadian firms have yet to fully exploit the situation.

This is partly a hangover from cool diplomatic relations between the two countries over India's use of Candu reactors to spark its nuclear weapons program, and continued nuclear tests. And it's partly a reflection of the long-standing practice of Canadian businesses to look primarily to the U.S. for trade and investment.

The report points to a number of opportunities that Canadian firms are well positioned to exploit, including India's massive program to modernize its transportation, power and telecommunications infrastructure, estimated to be worth about $140 billion over the next decade.

India is also in need of foreign expertise in engineering and services, the report states, and here the picture is less bleak with the presence of Canadian firms such Sun Life, Scotiabank, and SNC Lavalin, as well as Bombardier.

The report praises recent trade missions to India by the federal government, Ontario and Quebec as steps in the right direction, but notes there needs to be greater co-ordination, focus and follow-through. It quotes an Indian business contact as calling Canadians "suitcase investors" who "come, look around and leave."

Among the recommendations:

-The federal government should move quickly to complete a Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement with India, and also move to negotiate an enhanced trade, investment or services deal.

-Ottawa should appoint a senior level "Indian champion" to oversee the relationship;

-Hiring more immigration officers to fast-track business class visas for temporary visitors, reducing wait times that can last up to five years;

-Greater co-ordination among federal and provincial governments and business in their efforts to improve trade and investment and a common "Canada brand" look during missions to India.

The report cautions there are risks to investing in India, including some discriminatory tax regulations and corruption. But even firms that don't want to jump in should have an India strategy, Hughes Anthony said.

"Suppliers from these lower cost countries like India are now moving into the U.S. market and threatening some of the long established markets Canadian industries have held," she explained.

"So the idea you're going to hang on forever and a day to your traditional markets is a bit old-fashioned because you always have to have an eye on the competition."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum | Kitchener & Area)

CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum | Kitchener & Area) promised you a Bigger, Better, Biennial visual arts forum and we plan to deliver! For eleven days in September we will once again transform the Waterloo Region into a world-class venue for contemporary art.

Together with its cultural partners, CAFKA is thrilled to announce its lineup for CAFKA.07: Haptic:

Kent Anderson
Jennifer Angus
Artinverse
Diane Borsato (Cambridge Galleries)
Doug Buis
Judy Chicago (Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery)
Mark Cypher
Christine Marie Davis
Max Dean (Waterloo Regional Children's Museum)
Wim Delvoye (Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery)
Nicolas Dumit Estevez & Maria Alos
Wyn Geleynse
Ann Hamilton (Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery & Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics)
Marcia Huyer
In-Sun Kim
Jems Robert Koko-Bi
Kristiina Lahde & Adam Brown
Edmund Law
Kelly Mark
Jens J. Meyer
Michael Pinsky
David Rokeby
David Spriggs
Nicholas Stedman & Kerry Segal
Stelarc
S.U.R.G.E.
Ehryn Torrell

Plus a video programme curated by Laurel Woodcock.

And there's even more to come! Make sure you visit www.cafka.org and sign up for our e-newsletter so that you can see exclusive Artist Previews and receive updates as details are confirmed.

CAFKA.07: Haptic
September 20 - 30, 2007

Contemporary Art Forum | Kitchener and Area
141 Whitney Place P.O. box 1122
Kitchener, ON N2G 4G1
(T)519.744.5123
cafka@cafka.org
www.cafka.org

Japan's entrepreneurs ride out Livedoor shock

TOKYO (AP) - Japan's emerging breed of entrepreneurs was dealt a serious setback by the sudden downfall of Internet startup Livedoor over alleged securities laws violations - but the blow was far from fatal. Take Noriyuki Yamazaki, former IT chief at Livedoor, whose founder Takafumi Horie was convicted and sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison last week for breaching securities laws. Yamazaki has moved on, founding Zero Start Communications, which runs the new "posh me!" social networking site for aspiring actors and musicians.

"The Livedoor incident really squeezed the venture business environment here," Yamazaki, dressed casually in a T-shirt and leather jacket instead of the traditional shirt and tie, said at in a recent interview.

"It also spurred me to strike out on my own," Yamazaki said. "I learned a lot at Livedoor, like the need to move fast. But I now work based on my own thinking."

After an initial blow, the entrepreneurial spirit in Japan is still thriving. Venture-capital spending has rebounded, and the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mother's index - home to the country's top high-tech startups - is showing a recent resurgence of listings.

"I truly believe the old Japan is shrinking, while a newer Japan is taking strength," said Yoshito Hori, CEO of the Tokyo-based Globis Group that overseas venture funds worth over $342 million.

Horie's fall was a powerful cautionary tale.

A brash celebrity who had riled Japan's staid corporate world with buyout attempts and an in-your-face attitude, Horie's slide began with his arrest in January 2006.

The judge last Friday said he masterminded a network of decoy investment funds, and sentenced him to two-and-a-half years in prison. Horie, who had pleaded not guilty, immediately appealed and posted bail at $4.3 million.

The Mother's index tumbled 50 per cent the year after Horie's arrest. The index lost another percentage point on Friday following Horie's guilty verdict, to 1,010.37.

Particularly bruised have been individual investors, whose ranks have been growing with the arrival of electronic trading from PCs and mobile phones to make up over 75 per cent of trades on the Mother's market.

More than 1,600 shareholders filed a lawsuit against Livedoor and Horie last year, seeking more than US$85.6 million in damages incurred when Livedoor shares plummeted over the firm's alleged wrongdoing. They have since been delisted.

The so-called "Livedoor Shock" threatened to stifle the emergence of an entrepreneurial class tired of the "Japan Inc." model of recent decades in which the cream of the crop of younger workers flocked to cushy, stable jobs at established corporations rather than risking it with new ventures.

And traditional barriers to unorthodox business methods are still strong.

The closed culture of corporate Japan remains hard to crack for many young entrepreneurs, said Masahiro Ito, 23, founder of 3-D imaging software venture Yappa Corp.

Ito founded Yappa at 17 as a high school student in western Japan - and though his company now handles imaging projects for big clients like Japan Airlines and Nissan Motor Corp., he says he has hit plenty of brick walls.

"Tokyo is a ginormous city," said Ito. "But at the same time, everybody knows everybody else, a very closely knit society with a small-town mentality."

He added: "there's also Japan's heritage and culture of honoring your ancestors ... it's very difficult for new entrepreneurs."

Ito also blamed what he said was a less-than-ideal financing environment for startups, including immature investors and irresponsible venture capitalists.

"People buy as if they were betting on horses: you bet on one today, and you want to get the money back tomorrow. This is not investing," Ito said.

There are signs of change, however. Recent deregulation measures have made it possible to launch venture businesses with relatively small amounts of capital.

Venture-capital spending, which dipped after the dot-com bust in 2001, is on the uptrend amid a resurgent economy. The amount of capital invested in emerging Japanese companies surged 46 per cent to US$2 billion in 2006, according to the Tokyo-based Venture Enterprise Center - though that figure is still minuscule still compared to the U.S. and Europe.

Meanwhile, new listings on the Mother's market for emerging companies, which dipped 35 per cent in 2005, have rebounded to 41 companies in 2006. Especially active have been startups based on Japan's advanced broadband infrastructure and mobile phones, like Mixi, the social networking site that launched a highly publicized IPO last year valued at over $51.3 million.

Analysts also say wider changes like the breakdown of lifetime employment practices, as well as troubles at some of Japan's electronics giants like Sony, are causing some of the country's best and brightest to set up their own ventures.

"Whatever the effects of Livedoor, they will be short term," Hori said. "There's still some skepticism surrounding Japanese entrepreneurs. But the future is very bright."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Nightswimming's Pure Research 07

Call for Submissions
Deadline Monday, April 16, 2007

There are few places in Canada where in-depth theatrical research can be explored without the pressures of developing and/or performing a new work. Nightswimming's unique Pure Research program provides space, money and resources to artists who are pursuing a provocative theatrical question.

Now in its fifth year, Pure Research is designed to foster theatrical experiments which are not specifically linked to the creation of new work. In the spirit of inquiry, we assist artists in discovering what they need to explore, in order to further their work. We want you to tell us what you don't know, and how you might be able to answer your questions through a Pure Research workshop.

What does that mean?

If you have a theatrical question, and can pose it in terms of an experiment, then we're interested. We will supply studio space for up to three days, a $1000 fee for the lead researcher and a modest budget for artists and materials.

In 2005 we launched a new partnership with the University of Toronto Graduate Drama Centre. Pure Research was last held December 11-21, 2006, at their Glen Morris Studio Theatre on the UofT campus. We are very excited to open our program to graduate students and to benefit from the resources of the Centre.

In 2006 we conducted three research workshops:
* Cathy Nosaty, Laurel MacDonald and Philip Strong explored theatrical applications for Ableton Live sound recording software, in collaboration with a group of dancers, actors and musicians.
* Camellia Koo, Guillermo Verdecchia and Christine Brubaker investigated the relationship between audience and performer when each is enclosed in an 8' by 8' box.
* Moynan King and Sherri Hay addressed the tipping point between performer and audience as one becomes the other, using period costumes as the catalyst.

All Pure Research projects are documented and the results posted on Nightswimming's website. Researchers are required to submit a full report within one month of completing their experiment. Nightswimming staff will be present to observe and to offer assistance as required.

The Details:
* Submission Deadline: postmarked by Monday, April 16, 2007
* Pure Research projects will be held in Toronto in Autumn 2007
* Please read carefully the submission criteria below.
* Visit http://www.nightswimmingtheatre.com for more information.

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria is requesting submissions from artists and curators for The LAB 2008/09 series. The LAB is a contemporary art space within the Art Gallery designed specifically for presenting challenging and dynamic experimental projects. The Gallery welcomes all forms of media, performance or innovative museological projects which involve the Gallery's permanent collection. Projects must be designed specifically for The LAB; existing projects will not be considered. Artists will receive exhibition fees as well as project assistance of up to $1500.

Proposals must include the following:
· A brief, one page description of the proposed project (400 words maximum)
· 10-20 slides or CD of related previous work
· Detailed budget (include any special equipment needs, travel fees and material costs to a maximum of $1500)
· Current cv
· Self addressed stamped envelope for return of materials

When designing your project proposal, please note that all elements of the space should be considered (ie exits and entrances, ceiling heights, lighting etc). When describing materials and elements, please address in your description their relationship to the overall ideas and concepts in the project. Proposals also must include a diagram/installation plan of the project in the LAB space. A map of the Gallery is available on the website (www.aggv.bc.ca). Check your budget carefully; make sure you have included (and researched costs for) all elements of the project, including your travel and shipping, technicians, special equipment rentals (ie video projectors, computers, DVD players, Ipod etc) and materials.

Address all submissions to:
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
1040 Moss Street
Victoria BC V8V 4P1
Attention: Nicole Stanbridge, Curatorial Assistant

Please send any enquiries regarding The LAB to: nstanbridge@aggv.bc.ca

Submissions must be received at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria by 5 pm closing Friday, June 1st 2007

Walking & Art Residency

Program dates: September 17 - November 2, 2007
Application Deadline: April 20, 2007
Notification date: May/June, 2007

A thematic residency for up to 25 artists, writers, theorists, and curators working in all media.

Walking, one of the most basic of human activities has long been both inspiration and subject of exploration for artists. Whether the location is rural, urban, interior or imaginative, walking continues to stimulate. Walking is a central element and driving force in many art practices, in current writing, theoretical investigation, and curatorial projects. From the haikus of Basho to Baudelaire's theory of the " flâneur " to the current interest in psychogeography, walking continues to animate contemporary art practice.

Banff and the Rocky Mountains with its surrounding network of trails, history, and culture of walking, provide the ideal context for further exploration of this subject. This residency welcomes artists, writers, and curators who wish to pursue their practice, create new work, present and discuss ideas, and of course, walk.

Apply today for this residency opportunity.
http://www.banffcentre.ca/va/residencies/

BRIDGE OF ONE HAIR

New World Stage at Harbourfront from April 26-29

Bridge of One Hair (Jumblies Theatre www.jumbliestheatre .org )
Jumblies Theatre is the catalyst for this phenomenal three-year project with mulitiple communities in Central Etobicoke. An original musical score by renowned composer Alice Ping Yee Ho weaves together a performance that draws on Somali, Celtic, Carribbean and First Nations histories, tales and traditions; tea ritual and poetic text by Hawa Jibril and Duke Redbird.

Bridge of One Hair reaches back through time and around the world to convey the story of a neighbourhood, with a cast combining community members and performers of all ages, including VIVA Youth Singers, Jubilate Singers, Faduma Nkruma and many others. In addition to the performance, the presentation includes an interactive tea room. Project partners include Toronto Community Housing and Montgomery's Inn.

Zhang Ziyi had tough shoot on Canadian set of 'The Horsemen' with Quaid: manager

HONG KONG (AP) - Chinese movie star Zhang Ziyi went through a tough shoot in harsh weather while making the crime thriller "The Horsemen" in the Canadian city of Winnipeg with Dennis Quaid, her manager said Saturday.

Zhang finished shooting the movie, about serial killings that are linked to the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, early this month, Zhang's manager, Ling Lucas, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"It went beautifully" despite Winnipeg's cold weather, Lucas said.

"Shooting exterior scenes were exceptionally tough on everyone. Overall, it was intense shooting for Ziyi as she had heavy on-screen dialogue with Dennis Quaid," she said.

Zhang took voice and dialect lessons at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City before starting work on the movie.

Lucas said Zhang is currently in China doing promotional and charity work and that she will start shooting an English-language Western called "Laundry Warrior" alongside South Korean movie star Jang Dong-kun in May.

Zhang's credits include "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Memoirs of a Geisha."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

What do you want from us? asks Rabinovitch

Norma Reveler
Playback Magazine

OTTAWA -- CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch wants the federal government to sign a contract that spells out exactly what Ottawa expects of his network and how it will be funded. Appearing before the heritage committee on Thursday, he said such an agreement is needed because of the widening gap between the Ceeb's budget and its mandate.

But under questioning from MPs, Rabinovitch, flanked by his television EVP Richard Stursberg, would not specify the amount of money it would take for the public broadcaster to meet its mandate.

"I'm not going to duck that question, but I'm not going to give you an answer," he replied. "It depends on what you want from the CBC."

For example, he went on, it would cost an extra $130 million to increase regional TV programming, another $20 million to $25 million to extend local radio programming into unserviced regions, and up to $100 million to convert the net's facilities to high definition.

The CBC faces "serious financial pressures," he told the 11-member committee, which is in the midst of reviewing the CBC. "The plain fact is, if these pressures are not addressed -- seriously and soon -- there will be no more rabbits to pull out of the hat."

He said belt-tightening at the public broadcaster has reached its limits, following the annual $75-million cost savings over the past seven years. Public funding of the CBC amounts to about $1 billion. Stursberg told the committee about 55% of the TV network's budget comes from commercial revenues, including subscriber fees to its news specialty TV channel CBC Newsworld.

Rabinovitch said the "implicit" contract between the pubcaster, Canadians and the government is "too generic," and must be replaced by an explicit agreement, as is the practice in Ireland, South Africa and Hong Kong. He noted the BBC operates under a Royal Charter that is formally renewed, after debate, every 10 years.

"This is the kind of clarity and predictability we seek. Anything less is really paying lip service to the ideal of public broadcasting -- while watching it wither," he said.

Rabinovitch later noted, with thanks, that the government has again agreed to give the public broadcaster $60 million per year over the next two years in supplemental funding. The CBC has received a $60 million top-up every year since 2001.

Asked how he will spend it, he said it will go 60% to TV programming and 40% to radio programming. Some $10 million is also being earmarked for cross-linguistic shows, he added, to be shot and produced in both English and French for multiple platforms including radio, television and new media.

Foreign filmmakers flocking to B.C.

Made-in-B.C. TV series can develop a devoted following

Nicholas Read
Vancouver Sun

Makers of foreign television series have decided that B.C. is the place to be, regardless of where in the world it's supposed to represent.

According to figures released Thursday by the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and Arts, spending by the makers of foreign television series in the province jumped more than 45 per cent between 2005 and 2006, rising from $298 million to $433 million.

The total expenditure on TV series production, both foreign and domestic, also increased over 24 per cent, climbing from $387 million in 2005 to $488 million in 2006. That's important, the ministry said, because it provides longer-term employment for cast members and crew than do TV movies or feature films.

"B.C. continues to perform exceptionally well, despite the realities of a strong Canadian dollar and global competition," said Tourism Minister Stan Hagen in a press release. "It's been another outstanding year for our industry -- a testament to the fact that B.C. is truly a world-class production centre."

Overall spending by domestic productions rose 24 per cent from $224 million in 2005 to $277 million in 2006, even though the total number of domestic films and television series made here decreased during that time.

On Thursday, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson announced that the filmed-in-Squamish TV series Men in Trees will return for a second season.

Men in Trees was just one of 39 series filmed in the province last year. As well, 63 TV movies of the week were shot here along with 53 feature films.

George Grieve, production manager on the science-fiction series, Supernatural, said he believes the increase is due entirely to the government's decision in early 2005 to increase the labour tax credit from 20 to 30 per cent for domestic productions and from 11 to 18 per cent for foreign productions.

"Because the government cooperated and created the tax concession, it evened the playing field as far as seeking out TV locations was concerned," Grieve said. "It kept B.C. and Vancouver attractive as a location."

Such decisions, Grieve said, are "purely financial. If it's not financially viable to come here, they won't come."

However, Lael McCall, producer of the series Whistler, said B.C.'s attraction as a TV destination was due to "all kinds of different reasons."

"Everything from the crews to the infrastructure to the tax credits to the proximity to the rest of the world, Los Angeles in particular," she said.

Pete Mitchell, a vice-president at Vancouver Film Studios, said the 2006 numbers are reflective of a "really healthy" film and production environment in B.C.

"They reflect a nice steady growth and the fact the combination of talent and public policy and capital going into it seems to be working well," Mitchell said. "It's very encouraging. That's [the TV numbers] very much a bright point in it."

Added together, the spending on film and TV production in B.C. was down slightly from 2005, falling from $1.233 billion in 2005 to $1.228 billion last year. But the drop is slight enough not to concern Mitchell.

"It's stabilized now and that's good," he said. "But it does make me wonder if we've hit some kind of plateau."

It also was significantly better than Ontario's performance last year, he added. There, TV and film production totalled only $888 million, down from $933 million the year before.

The 2006 numbers also pleased B.C. Film commissioner Susan Croome, who said the rise in TV production was especially positive for the province.

"Television is a great thing for B.C. because it provides a stable base of operation for us," she said. "It's what allows us to build our casts and crews and our infrastructure."

The situation for feature films wasn't as good. The number shot here dropped from 63 in 2005 to 53 in 2006. That resulted in an appreciable fall in feature-film spending from $623 million in 2005 to $474 million last year.

That is a concern to Croome, who said it highlights the need for the province to continue an emphasis on "customer service and providing the right product at the right price."

Grieve said there was still room to grow the TV market as long as crews were available. "I think our capacity is around 40 to 45 crews." he said.

Playing the blame game about film industry

Peter Howell
Toronto Star

The first item of business was getting our heads around the title: "Don't Blame Canada."

Organizers of the SXSW Film Festival slapped that handle on the Canadian film panel I'd been invited to moderate in Austin, Tex. last week. Joining me were Toronto filmmakers Ron Mann, Reg Harkema and Rick Caine, plus Jennifer Price, a trade commissioner for the Canadian Consulate General in L.A.

We all wondered: Don't blame Canada for what? Pity Canada would be more like it.

The title played on the old South Park gag about a foul-mouthed Canuck movie called Asses of Fire, which starts a border war with inflamed Americans. If only our movies really did have that much impact.

Our national film industry is not in the greatest of shape at the moment, even in Quebec where the distinct society has forged a distinct film culture. The Canadian dollar is no longer the bargain it once was, the lingering affects of SARS still haunts Toronto, and American states are much more aggressive about offering tax incentives to convince their homegrown filmmakers to stay home.

Worse still is the indifference by Canadians towards their own films. Hands up all you who watched this year's Genie Awards.

Price, who focuses on international business development for Canadian culture, brought with her some depressing statistics on how the country's film industry has fared in recent years, especially in terms of Canadian support:

Even with the release last year of such genuine domestic success stories as Bon Cop, Bad Cop and Trailer Park Boys, Canadian films accounted for just 1.8 per cent of the English-language box office in Canada. The rest is mostly American.

In 2004-05, the most recent year for which statistics are available, the production value of Canadian features totalled $253 million, spread over 116 films. That's a decrease of 31 per cent by dollar value. That $253 million would pay for 2 ½ Hollywood blockbusters, most of which are filmed outside Canada.

The news is not all grim. The Canadian film industry remains highly prized both within and off our shores for its creativity and talent. And big American productions like Hairspray and The Incredible Hulk have chosen to film here. But there's the unmistakeable truth that Canadian movies are almost invisible in this country, because most Canadians neither watch nor even understand their own domestic offerings.

Price told a bleakly humorous anecdote about renting a Canadian film once in a small B.C. video store and finding it racked under "imports." And yet on our panel there were three Canuck directors who are enjoying success at home and abroad, albeit success they've had to work hard to get.

Mann was at SXSW showing a spanking new print of his first film Imagine the Sound, his 1981 documentary about the free jazz movement and its singular artists. Not many filmmakers get the satisfaction of being feted stateside for their debut work. Imagine the Sound will also be honoured in Toronto with a special screening May 10 at Cinematheque Ontario and it's also due out on DVD.

Harkema was in Austin with Monkey Warfare, his black comedy about sobered former revolutionaries. It won a prize at last year's Toronto International Film Festival and will soon be on DVD.

Caine still had applause ringing in his ears for the world premiere at SXSW of Manufacturing Dissent, his documentary with wife Debbie Melnyk about the dubious journalistic tactics of firebrand filmmaker Michael Moore. Caine is hopeful of distribution deals in Canada and the U.S.

All three filmmakers have no illusions about their status in the Canadian consciousness. They know more people would rather stay home and watch American Idol on TV than see a Canadian film.

"You can make a little bit of a success to a certain level but you're never going to be the breakout big superstar," Harkema said.

"Particularly in Toronto, you're likely to live in a cold, Parkdale slum apartment for the rest of your life, pursuing your art until you wither away and die. And you know, maybe someone digs it up out of your trunk in your attic and goes, `Wow, why didn't we celebrate this guy when he was alive?'"

That reads more depressing than it sounded at the time. Harkema was smiling when he said it. I think. Mann, who has made 10 more films since Imagine the Sound, took the longer and more upbeat view.

"I think it's hard being a filmmaker, period. There's never enough money to do what you want, but Canada is incredible in the sense that there are funding organizations for anything, and you can pre-sell your films to Canadian television and you can get grants, you can get development money for projects.

"I was more entrepreneurial. I didn't just wait for a phone call, I just did it myself. The reason you make a movie is you intensely love something or you intensely dislike something and that drives you."

Yes, there is seed money, Caine chipped in, but it's not always readily available – and funders often don't have a clue about what you're pitching them. He told a story about trying to get the NFB to back The Frank Truth, his 2001 exposé about Ottawa's satirical Frank magazine.

"I'll never forget how we had a meeting with a woman there who was very pleasant and very generous. But at the end of the day it was sort of like, `Wow, the loaded political content in this film! We wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole! Oh, and besides, we want to be involved with theatrical films!'

"So she was the first person I called when the Toronto International Film Festival accepted the film, because it screened at the NFB screening room at TIFF. Hey! It's showing! Come and see it!"

Harkema advanced the perhaps revolutionary view that maybe we should all stop fretting about how much Canadians support their own films.

"I think it's a little misguided to create a box office goal when, as with any country in the world, all their screens are inundated with Hollywood product," he said.

"And it's my feeling that they should look at some other kind of goal, especially in light of the fact that screens themselves are disappearing. Just last year in Toronto, five repertory screens that would have showed Canadian films just disappeared. One of them reopened and actually showed my film as its premiere, thank God, but still, we were down net four. I think they should look more towards what the films are doing in terms of markets globally."

Indeed. Canadian films were front and centre at this year's SXSW fest. And the Canuck film panel had more attendees than you might get for a similar panel in Toronto. No wonder the city's unofficial motto is "Keep Austin Weird."

Eternal Blue Sky: Mongolia - Elaine Ling

A photography exhibition by Elaine Ling

Artist Reception: Wednesday, April 4, 2007 - 7-10 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday, April 7, 2007 - 6:30 pm
Exhibition runs from April 4 - 22, 2007

G+ GALLERIES
50 Gladstone Ave. Toronto
(one block north-west of Gladstone Hotel)
416.535.6957
www.indexg.com
mail@indexg.com

This Spring G+ GALLERIES is pleased to announce the representation of Toronto-based artist Elaine Ling and to debut her photographic series Eternal Blue Sky: Mongolia.

Elaine Ling's photo work is noted for her enduring quest in exploring the shifting equilibrium between nature and the man-made in many far-fetched locations around the world. From 2002 to 2005 Ling undertook several journeys to explore the landscape of the Gobi Desert, to search for and document the ancient Deer and Turkick Stones. Spiritually speaking, these stones are the most beautiful and important archaeological treasures of Mongolia. During these trips, she discovered the richness of the Mongolians' hospitality, was invited to dine and sleep in their tents and entertained with traditional music. She was not only able to document the solitude and history of the vast desert, but also its people, their dwelling interiors and eclectic collections of family memorabilia. All are captured on negative films and printed large-scale as gorgeous, black and white gelatin silver prints.

Elaine Ling was born in Hong Kong and has lived in Canada since the age of nine. Her photographic projects have taken her to the deserts of Namibia, North Africa, Mongolia, India, South America, Australia, and the American Southwest, and in the citadels of Persepolis, Petra, Cappadocia, Machu Picchu, Angkor Wat, and Great Zimbabwe. Ling's recent solo exhibitions include Foto Arte, Brasilia, Brazil; FotoRio, Rio de Janeiro; Britanico, Lima, Peru; Encuentros Abiertos, Buenos Aires, Argentina; Bratislava Photofest, Bratislava, Slovakia; Fototage, Mannheim, Germany; and exhibitions at Museo de Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia; Houston Center for Photography; Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium; and Prague House of Photography. She has been published in The Polaroid Book, Powerhouse Review, Aperture, Photo Technik Int, and View Camera.

Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Henry Buhl Foundation, New York; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Musée de la Photographie à Charleroi, Belgium; Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris; Museet for Fotokunst, Odense, Denmark; Centro Portugues de Fotografia, Portugal and Centro Internazionale di Fotografia Scavi Scaligeri, Italy. Based in Toronto, she has work in the collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, Ryerson University, and the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa.

Read Artist Statement (as link)
http://artpost.info/ipage/result.asp?ip_id=94

Report: C$300 million makeover for ancient town at end of Great Wall

BEIJING (AP) - A C$300 million restoration project is planned for an ancient town where the Great Wall meets the sea, state media reported Thursday. The project will transform Shanhaiguan, built in 1381 during the Ming Dynasty as a strategic military post to help defend Beijing, the Xinhua News Agency said.

"We will start eight projects on the main body of the ancient wall and the work will be completed by the end of this year," Pan Jie, deputy head of Shanhaiguan district in Qinhuangdao city in Hebei province, was quoted as saying.

Xinhua said the district has already spent the equivalent of about C$109 million restoring watchtowers, gates and five memorial arches on the wall in Shanhaiguan.

China in recent years has begun restoring parts of the wall as well as trying to rein in commercial development on and around it.

The government said in October it would use remote-sensing satellites and other high technology to check the wall's length, now estimated at 4,828 to 6,437 kilometres.

The earliest sections of the wall were built more than 2,000 years ago to guard against Mongols and other invaders. Other sections were added over the centuries.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

UZUME TAIKO IN DRUM SPIRITS

Friday, April 6th & Saturday, April 7th, 2007, 8:00pm
Norman Rothstein Theatre, 950 West 41st Avenue

Tickets $20 (general) /$15 (student, senior) available at
Norman Rothstein Theatre (604 257 5111), Highlife Records and Zulu Records
Information: www.uzume.com / 604 683 8240

FEATURING
Bonnie Soon, taiko & percussion
Jason Overy, taiko & percussion
Naomi Kajiwara, taiko & percussion
Eileen Kage, taiko & percussion
Guest: Dave Corman, guitar & percussion

On April 6th & April 7th, Vancouver’s professional taiko ensemble Uzume Taiko performs in Drum Spirits, another of their trademark breathtaking shows at the intimate Norman Rothstein Theatre. Drum Spirits features the taiko ensemble joined by guest guitarist and percussionist, Dave Corman, who received his music degree in classical guitar performance at the University of Victoria and has worked with a variety of bands of many genres. Uzume Artistic Director Bonnie Soon describes the show as “atmospheric,” with the western drum set and Corman’s melodic and rhythmic guitar adding another element to an already exhilarating show. Soon promises: “‘Uzume’ the goddess of laughter will make an appearance and will rouse humour and playfulness among the group’s powerful taiko drumming. Expect to be excited and entranced!”

Since 1988, Uzume Taiko has enthralled audiences at festivals, schools, concerts and special events across Canada, the United States, Europe and Japan with its dynamic synthesis of music, movement and theatre. Using a diverse collection of percussive and melodic instruments as well as taiko drums, Uzume Taiko has developed a dynamic fusion of old and new styles of drumming ­ bringing a vibrant, contemporary sensibility to an ancient art. With the choreographed physicality of martial arts, the heart-stopping pulse of the O-Daiko and the rhythmic sensitivity of a jazz ensemble, the drummers of Uzume Taiko create an exhilarating sensual experience.

One of the most remarkable percussion ensembles ever to hit the UK … hugely inventive, ingenious and dangerously mesmerizing. Press and Journal, Scotland

China approves law ending blanket tax breaks for foreign investors

BEIJING (AP) - China's legislature approved a law Friday to end three decades of blanket tax breaks for foreign investors, raising their tax rates to match those of Chinese companies. The law would set tax rates for most companies at 25 per cent of their profits. Until now, Chinese companies have paid 33 per cent, while foreign investors received tax breaks that kept their rates as low as 10 per cent.

The new measure was approved by the National People's Congress on the final day of its annual session. The vote was 2,826 in favour, with 37 opposed and 22 abstentions.

China's tax breaks helped to attract nearly US$700 billion in investment that fuelled the country's rise to become the world's fourth-largest economy. But Chinese companies complained they were treated unequally in comparison to foreign competitors.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

U.S. nuclear envoy says financial dispute with North Korea resolved

BEIJING (AP) - The top U.S. nuclear envoy said today he feels a dispute over North Korean funds held in Macau that had possibly threatened international efforts to rid Pyongyang of its nuclear weapons has been resolved.

Washington promised to resolve its blacklisting of the Banco Delta Asia and the freezing of US$24 million in North Korean deposits as an inducement to Pyongyang to rejoin international talks on its nuclear ambitions. A U.S. Treasury Department decision Wednesday ordering U.S. banks to sever ties with Banco Delta Asia appeared to fall short of expectations.

But U.S. assistant secretary of state Christopher Hill said he was confident North Korea will fulfil its obligations to close its main nuclear reactor in exchange for energy aid and political concessions.

"I think they want assurances that the Banco Delta Asia issue is resolved and we can give them those assurances that it is resolved."

© The Canadian Press, 2007

China's legislature approves law to protect private property

BEIJING (AP) - China's legislature passed a milestone property law today strengthening protection for private businesses and property.

The property law was passed with a vote of 2,799 delegates in favour, 52 opposed and 37 abstaining on the final day of the annual two-week session of the National People's Congress.

The property law had been strongly opposed by a small but highly influential group of scholars and retired communist officials, who said the law is a threat to the state's guiding role and a vehicle for unrestrained privatization that will feed a growing income gap between rich and poor.

Such opposition and the Chinese leadership's ambivalence about reducing the primacy of state property caused the law to be kicked around for 14 years before a final version was submitted this year.

The property law intends to offer the same protection for private and public property, a recognition of the private sector's rise since the start of economic changes in the late 1970s. The private sector, including foreign investment, has grown to account for 65 per cent of gross national product and up to 70 per cent of tax revenues.

State industries, meanwhile, have shed influence along with employees, with China's labour minister saying earlier this week jobs need to be found this year for another five million laid-off state enterprise workers.

Along with private businesses, the law also aims to bolster the rights of house buyers who have pushed the urban home ownership rate to more than 80 per cent, as well as farmers who have frequently lost land to infrastructure and housing projects, with little or no compensation.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

Boisclair won't say he's sorry for "slanting eyes" comment aimed at Asians

MONTREAL (CP) - An unrepentant Andre Boisclair refused to apologize Thursday for using the term "slanting eyes" to describe Asian students.

The controversial description once again put Quebec's sometimes tenuous race relations at the fore of the provincial election campaign. The Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations called on Boisclair to apologize but the Parti Quebecois leader steadfastly rebuffed the request.

"I don't have any intention of apologizing," he repeated several times, saying it's a term he uses quite frequently.

According to a former Bloc Quebecois candidate who is now a member of the PQ, Boisclair's comments have caused rumblings within the party.

"It has caused problems for the PQ's candidates of Chinese origin because they have to defend Mr. Boisclair's comments in front of a community who is very angry at these comments," said May Chiu, who ran unsuccessfully for the Bloc during the last federal election. "He really complicated their lives."

Boisclair used the words on Wednesday as he talked about global competition from Asian economies like India and China and the number of young people who leave these countries to pursue studies in the United States.

"The reality is these countries are not just working to create jobs in sweatshops," said Boisclair, who spent a year studying at Harvard University.

"When I was in Boston I was surprised to see that on campus about one-third of the students doing their bachelor's degrees had slanting eyes."

Fo Niemi of the Centre for Research-Action on Race Relations called the remark offensive.

"It's a racist stereotype," said Niemi, who is of Asian heritage.

Chiu said the slip was out of character for a politician who normally is extremely sensitive to minorities.

"I just cannot explain how Mr. Boisclair could not have known that 'slanted eyes' has been used as a derogatory insult towards Asians since as long as I know," she said.

Walter Tom, a member of the Chinese-Canadian National Council and a resident of Montreal, called it "one of the highest insults you can hear."

Rather than seek an apology, the council asked Boisclair to "correct" himself.

"It is rather disappointing to hear Mr. Boisclair, and an aspiring premier at that, refer to students of Asian heritage in this manner," said president Colleen Hua.

But Boisclair was adamant.

"I have no intention of apologizing," he reiterated when asked about his choice of words.

Boisclair made the "slanting eyes" comment in French, using the term "yeux brides."

"I don't understand," he said in Quebec City on Thursday. "Maybe there's a nuance between the word in French and the word in English."

French-language media tended to ignore the original remarks on Wednesday, while their English counterparts did mention it.

Boisclair accused Niemi of waging a political fight against him.

The PQ leader said he has travelled to Japan, which he described as "a source of wonder to me."

Quebec has been embroiled in debate over reasonable accommodation of racial, cultural and religious minorities.

It's not the first time race issues have come up in the campaign for the March 26 provincial election.

The Action democratique du Quebec ditched a candidate for saying Quebecers should have more children to avoid being overrun by "ethnics," while the PQ defended a candidate who came under fire for a book that questioned the extent of the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Niemi and Tom said they did not believe Boisclair meant to be insulting.

The former PQ cabinet minister has worked with the Chinese community many times over the years, Tom said.

"We don't question his goodwill or tolerance," he said. "The only thing is these are the kind of slips of the tongue that need to be eliminated."

Even Boisclair's chief political foes defended him.

ADQ Leader Mario Dumont joked about the comments.

"I'm told all the time I have slanting eyes," he said, laughing, before adding he does not believe Boisclair meant any disrespect to Asians.

Liberal Leader Jean Charest also came to the defence of his PQ opponent.

"Believe me, I find plenty of fault politically with Mr. Boisclair and I'm not shy about saying that," Charest said in Montreal.

But "I think I know Mr. Boisclair enough to know Mr. Boisclair did not use that term in a pejorative way."

Charest ran into problems of his own Thursday when he was confronted at a factory by an angry taxpayer.

Richard Levesque told Charest the Liberals have failed to deliver on a promise to cut income taxes by a billion dollars a year and have instead hiked fees and other taxes.

Charest said his Liberals have lowered income taxes in the past four years and would continue to do so in another mandate.

The outspoken Levesque was not convinced.

"Just like you said in your last mandate, that you'd lower taxes," he said at the factory in Varennes, Que., east of Montreal.

"I lost a hell of a lot of disposable income since you said that. It'd be better if you said nothing. It costs me too much money when you talk."

© The Canadian Press, 2007