Corner Gas and Robson Arms star Gabrielle Miller has condemned a Conservative-government bill that could lead to the cancellation of producers’ tax credits. In an interview following a March 6 Vancouver Quadra all-candidates meeting at UBC’s Cecil Green Park House, Miller told the Straight that she is “appalled” by Bill C-10, which is currently before the Senate.

“It completely screams of censorship,” Miller said.

According to ACTRA national executive director Stephen Waddell, the bill gives Josée Verner, the minister of Canadian heritage, authority to create a committee to make determinations on tax credits.

Waddell told the Straight after the debate that this committee could deny tax credits retroactively to productions that “may be considered to be in opposition to what’s known as public policy, whatever that might be, or offensive material”.

“We now understand that major lenders in this country are talking about not funding Canadian productions as a result of potential amendments,” Waddell said. He added that this puts the film and video production industry “in peril” across the country.

Miller said that it’s “absolutely ridiculous” to give a group of people within government the power to financially punish artists based on what they say or how they tell their stories. “It starts there, and where does it lead?” she asked.

Liberal Joyce Murray was the only candidate who mentioned Bill C-10 during the debate. She specifically referred to evangelical crusader Charles McVety’s claim to the Globe and Mail in late February that his lobbying was responsible for the tax-credit amendment in the bill. “That risks having morality police in some bureaucrat’s office being directed by the ministers,” Murray charged. “It’s going to frustrate our film industry and shut down creativity in Canada.”