{"id":40916,"date":"2026-05-11T20:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/40916\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:16:11","slug":"ottawa-permanently-renews-creative-export-initiative-pledges-95-million-over-five-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/40916\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa permanently renews creative export initiative, pledges $95-million over five years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Culture Minister Marc Miller, shown on April 10 at the Liberal Party convention in Montreal, announced the new funding Monday.Graham Hughes\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

On the eve of the Cannes Film Festival, where the industry chatter on the ground suggests that the era in which global culture revolved around the United States is now over, Culture Minister Marc Miller announced the permanent renewal of a large-scale initiative supporting Canada\u2019s creative pursuits abroad.<\/p>\n

The Creative Export Strategy, or CES, was launched in 2018 under the Trudeau government, initially designed as a five-year $125-million initiative to enhance the export potential of Canadian culture. Early recipients included the Canada Book Fund, the Canada Music Fund, the Canada Arts Presentation Fund, and Telefilm Canada. <\/p>\n

According to Canadian Heritage, over the past eight years, the CES has helped more than 3,200 Canadian businesses and organizations reach 120 international markets, generating $167.7-million in commercial deals. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThere was some talk about not renewing this, and frankly we were quite nervous that it wouldn\u2019t. But the Prime Minister was quite clear in saying that this not only needs to be renewed, but it needs to be made permanent,\u201d Mr. Miller said in an interview about the program, after the announcement was made in Montreal. Ottawa will dedicate $95-million to the initiative over the next five years, and $19-million annually after that. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to have a Prime Minister who is putting culture at the centre of his export strategy,\u201d the minister added. \u201cWe know there are examples where these things are giving us five to one, six to one bang for your buck on return, so that\u2019s important from an economic perspective, but also as a part of radiating Canadian culture inside Canada, and outside.\u201d <\/p>\n

The news arrives at a time when political leaders in Canada and the European Union are increasingly turning toward each other to deepen bonds, as the United States faces political and cultural isolation under President Donald Trump. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a really important coincidence that we can leverage. I\u2019d be lying if I told you that I could have predicted where this was going,\u201d Mr. Miller said. <\/p>\n

He highlighted the example of Crave\u2019s hit show Heated Rivalry, a Canadian production. \u201cThe reason it\u2019s doing so well is that it was supported from us. They were passed over by a lot of American studios. And we embrace the risk and trust their instinct.\u201d <\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not yet clear which agencies and institutions will be prioritized under the renewal of the CES, which is led by Canadian Heritage as opposed to Export Development Canada. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t about piggybacking on trade missions with other departments, but it\u2019s looking at the industry and seeing what it needs, and maybe doing our own missions focused on specifically creative industries,\u201d Mr. Miller said. \u201cThere is an opportunity for us to make sure that we share more and more of our film and TV and any creative industry with Europe, where there is some cultural affinity.\u201d <\/p>\n

The minister announced the CES funding at Montreal\u2019s Phi Foundation for Contemporary Art \u2013 an ocean away from the Cannes Film Festival, the world\u2019s most prestigious and glitzy cultural gathering, but still a symbolic creative hub close to the state of global arts. <\/p>\n

While relatively few Canadian filmmakers are on the official Cannes program compared to recent years, the homegrown industry is running high on a series of domestic productions that have broken key box-office and critical thresholds. <\/p>\n

Running in parallel with the Cannes festival\u2019s black-tie screenings is the industry-facing March\u00e9 du Film, where the world comes to buy and sell movies. There, representatives from more than 200 Canadian companies will be on the ground to help build their businesses while they help expand the country\u2019s bustling cinematic scene. <\/p>\n

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\u201cAt the end of the day, the big business is at the market, and we have quite a strong delegation going this year to make sure that we\u2019re part of the conversation worldwide,\u201d Julie Roy, executive director and chief executive of Telefilm, told The Globe and Mail ahead of the festival\u2019s launch. She added that Canada now has more co-production treaties than any other country. <\/p>\n

\u201cDiversification of markets is one of the government\u2019s top priorities, and it\u2019s the same in our sector,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Ottawa is set to see the fruits of another key film-industry investment this fall, when the Toronto International Film Festival launches its inaugural content market. It will be similar to the March\u00e9 du Film, but will include television, digital and immersive media. <\/p>\n

In 2024, the Trudeau\u2019s government pledged $23-million to TIFF over the course of three years to stage the market, whose organizers will be busy on the ground at Cannes this week to drum up attendance from media buyers and sellers around the world. However, Mr. Miller cannot yet say whether Ottawa will renew its investment in the festival\u2019s content market. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll have to look at it. I know that [TIFF CEO] Cameron Bailey is working his butt off in a lot of ways, including on this new trade committee, but we\u2019ll have to look at it and assess its success,\u201d Mr. Miller said. \u201cI\u2019m really psyched about it, but I want to see it myself. If that helps and we see the returns, I would push for it. But I can\u2019t give you that guarantee right now.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Culture Minister Marc Miller, shown on April 10 at the Liberal Party convention…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40917,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,61,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-40916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-ottawa","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-sports-news","50":"tag-technology","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}