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New report shows that English-language minority Canadian content production once again hit an historic low in 2019-20

Montreal, January 31, 2023 – A new report published today by the Quebec English Language Production Council (QEPC) shows that the annual volume of film and television production within Canada’s Official Language Minority Community (OLMC) in Quebec remains at its weakest.

The Canadian Audiovisual Regional Production Report 1996-97 to 2019-20 shows that English-language Canadian content production in Quebec was equal to $166 million in 2019-20, representing an all-time low of 7% of $2.3 billion in total English-language Canadian content production. In fact, English-language Canadian content production in Quebec was at 7% of the Canada-wide total for English-language Canadian content in three of five years prior to 2019-20, down from an historic high of 26% in 1997-98.

See Key Findings below.

Michael Solomon, Co-Chair of the QEPC, added, “Quebec is not a competitive environment for English-language Canadian content. We can see in this report that official language minority film and TV production in Quebec remains at its lowest level compared to the rest of Canada.”

Dustin Chodorowicz, Partner at consulting firm Nordicity added, “This report offers a unique look into how film and television production in Canada’s official languages varies from region to region, and shows that over the past two decades there has been a clear decline in Quebec’s share of English-language CanCon production.” 

Key findings:

  • Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, Canadian content production increased from $2.935 billion to $3.121 billion – a modest annual average growth rate of just over one percent (+1.54% CAGR).
  • On the other hand, foreign location and service (FLS) production doubled from $2.644 billion to $5.248 billion (+18.70% CAGR).
  • FLS production clearly became the dominant form of film and television production during this period – increasing its share of total film and television production (excluding in-house production) in Canada from 47% to 63%.
  • British Columbia remains the dominant location of FLS production at $2.346 billion in 2019-20, but fell from 60% to 45% share over last five years. Ontario at $1.541 billion hit 29% of total FLS in 2019-20. Quebec saw robust growth from $282 million to $1.142 billion in 2019-20 (+41.86% CAGR), or 22% of the total.
  • English-language Canadian content production increased from $2.176 billion in 2015-16 to $2.304 billion in 2019-20 (+1.44% CAGR). A large share of this slight increase was driven by higher levels of English-language Canadian content fiction production which reached 60% of the total.
  • English official language minority production in Quebec accounted for $166 million, or 7% of the $2.304 billion total English-language Canadian content total in 2019-20. This represented another all-time (24-year) low on a percentage basis – tying the lows of 7% also hit in 2015-16 and 2018-19.
  • After hitting a peak of $829 million in 2016-17, total French-language Canadian content production declined to $788 million in 2019-20. The majority of this ($734 million or 93%) was produced in Quebec in 2019-20.
  • French official language minority (Communautés de langue officielle en situation minoritaire (CLOSM) production outside Quebec was at a record $55 million in 2018-19, before dipping slightly to $54 million in 2019-20. On a percentage basis, French CLOSM production was at its highest-ever level (7% of total French-language production) between 2017-18 and 2019-20.
  • Looking across Canada’s five regions, between 2015-16 and 2019-20, domestic production in all languages grew in the Prairies (+14.47% CAGR), Ontario (+1.71% CAGR) and Quebec (+0.89% CAGR), and declined in British Columbia (-1.23% CAGR) and Atlantic Canada (-3.72% CAGR).
  • Based on all languages, Ontario’s dominance of Canadian content production continued. By 2019-20, it hit 47%, down slightly from its 2011-12 peak of 49%. In English-language Canadian content production, Ontario’s share remained relatively steady at 62% in 2019-20 – just shy of the peak of 63% in 2011-12.

The Canadian Audiovisual Regional Production Report was co-authored by the QEPC and Nordicity, and made with financial support from the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), the Department of Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada, the National Film Board of Canada and the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) Montreal. It updates the previous edition published by QEPC in 2020, and is the only comprehensive source of statistics and analysis of the regional trends in film and television production in Canada by language of production.

Read the full report here or visit QEPC.org to read this and other QEPC reports.

About the QEPC

The QEPC represents the English-language film, television and media production industries in Quebec. Its objective is to increase the production of films and television by the official language minority in Quebec. The QEPC promotes this objective through research and strategic lobbying at both the federal and provincial levels.

About Nordicity

With offices in Toronto, Vancouver and London (UK), Nordicity is a leading international consulting firm providing solutions for economic analysis, strategy and business, and policy and regulation across the arts, culture and heritage, and digital and creative media industries.

Contact Kirwan Cox,  514-965-4664 or 450-451-4664

Nordicity is a leading international consulting firm providing private and public-sector clients with solutions for Economic Analysis, Strategy and Business, and Policy and Regulation across four priority sectors: arts, culture and heritage; digital and creative media; and information and communication technologies (ICTs) and innovation. With offices in London (UK), Toronto, and Vancouver Nordicity is ideally placed to assist our clients to succeed in the rapidly evolving global markets.