- Interactive Ontario submitted a spring pre-budget submission to the Provincial government on February 11 2021. It is in line with the recommendations of the Ministerial Advisory Council on IDM (Spring 2020) and all subsequent IO presentations and submissions to the government. Streamlining the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (OIDMTC) remains at the core of our advocacy efforts since the OIDMTC is instrumental to our ability to compete worldwide, create and retain jobs, and attract investments to the Province.
- Ontario Creates has released its new guidelines for the IDM Fund: Production and Concept Definition, following last fall’s consultations with industry. IO is gathering feedback on the new guidelines via our Ontario Creates Discord channel, and will provide it back to Ontario Creates. Please share your thoughts there and register to Ontario Creates’ information sessions in March.
- IO has had several discussions with CMF/Telefilm on the insurance issues raised by industry. They agree that insurance requirements should be in line with the risk levels of each project and their analysts were briefed accordingly. Stephane Cosentino, National Deputy Director and CMF Program Administrator, is in charge of revising the insurance requirements for the 2021-2022 program guidelines. He asked producers to contact him directly to provide him with examples of the insurance challenges triggered by the CMF’s requirements over the last months. Let us know if you don’t have Stephane’s email address on IO’s Discord channel dedicated to discussing CMF-related topics.
- CMF will conduct consultations with industry on potential changes they could implement in 2022-2023. More to come over the coming weeks.
- IO is reaching out to the CRA to get a written confirmation that the CMF Emergency Fund is not considered assistance and will not grind the OIDMTC. The latter was confirmed verbally by Ontario Creates. As a reminder, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) is considered assistance and will grind the OIDMTC if a company received the subsidy for an employee’s wages and also included those wages as part of the labour in the OIDMTC calculation.
We will also be hosting a Town Hall to discuss and hear your feedback on the Pre-budget Submissions and to discuss Ontario Create’s New Guidelines
Save the Date: March 9th at 1:00 pm
