Yesterday the Province released an Economic and Fiscal Update and Action Plan in response to COVID-19. This is in place of the Provincial Budget; a full Provincial Budget will be released by November 15, 2020. 

In addition, in the legislation implementing the Action Plan, the government is making a change to the OPSTC legislation, requested by FilmOntario and the CMPA, which appears to allow labour expenditures paid to a loan-out company or an independent contractor are considered eligible labour for the purposes of calculating the labour threshold of 25% of a production’s total eligible production expenditures. This change is retroactive to June 4, 2015. We are currently waiting for clarification on the details of this legislation, and will provide additional information when it is available. 

The Action Plan includes a series of supports that will benefit businesses in our industry, including:

- a five-month interest and penalty-free period to make payments for the majority of provincially administered taxes, including the EHT;

- the ability to defer employer WSIB payments for up to six months; 

- and a temporary increase to the EHT exemption to $1 million for companies. 

This is in addition to the support for workers that was announced last week, as well as a slate of personal supports including electricity and student loan relief and, of course, increased funding for healthcare. 

We were not expecting to see any industry-specific supports in this Budget related to COVID-19. As we outlined in the March 20 update, we are continuing to work with all levels of government and our industry partners on short, medium- and long-term solutions, and we will keep you updated as this work continues.

COVID-19 has created unprecedented upheaval for the Canadian film and television industry, and is causing significant and ongoing financial disruptions for our sector. 

The CMPA has worked with Nordicity to create the Canadian Film and Television Survey. The results of this survey will help our industry quantify the scope of the financial impact of the crisis on production companies and will be shared with government officials to assist them as COVID-19 response packages are developed. 

The survey has been developed to capture the COVID-19 corporate impact at an organizational level. Only one survey should be completed per company (even if you receive it from multiple sources), and it should be filled out by someone with a good sense of the overall financial and operational picture at your organization. 

Please note, you do not have to be a production company to complete this survey - all companies in the industry should participate. There may be additional information solicited in the coming days to capture specific segments of the industry. 

We ask that you please complete the survey as soon as possible, and submit by no later than March 31. Take the survey here. If you are involved in interactive digital media production, please complete a separate survey, which you can find here.

Front Row Insurance is delivering an exclusive 1-hour webinar to members of FilmOntario on Wednesday April 8, 2020 at 2 pm. Learn everything you need to know about protecting your film project with errors and omissions (E&O) insurance. 

Expert broker Damian Schleifer (Executive VP, Front Row) will explain the ins and outs of Producer's E&O insurance, including common types of policies, premium rating factors, insurers offering the coverage, certificates, standard policy exclusions, and more! 

You'll be able to ask Damian questions at the end of the webinar. 

There is a 100 attendee limit on the webinar, so register ASAP!

We are pleased to welcome three new members to FilmOntario: 

Alcina Pictures - an award-winning, Toronto-based production company focused on developing, financing and producing feature length content for domestic and global audiences. 

Kay & Warburton - a leading Canadian accounting firm specializing in accounting, tax and advisory services to the entertainment and media industry. 

Western Union Business Solutions - provides business solutions to send, receive and manage international payments across a global network, spanning 200 countries/territories and 130 currencies. 

We couldn't do what we do without our members, and we appreciate everyone's support. And remember, it's always better to do business with a fellow FilmOntario member!