U.S. President Donald Trump's film tariffs could leave Calgary productions hanging
It's long been a shining part of Calgary's economy, but U.S. President Donald Trump has suddenly cast a dark cloud over the city's film industry.
In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100 per cent tariff 'on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.'
'It feels like a real gut punch,' said Deborah Yedlin, president & CEO of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce.
The city has made a cameo in several big-ticket films and T.V. shows over the years — standing in for the city of Metropolis in the 1983 film Superman III, and more recently, featuring in the HBO drama, The Last of Us.
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The lights are bright — and it's even bigger business.
'Think about how consumed we were by the filming of The Last of Us,' Yedlin recalled.
'That generated about $182 million to the Calgary economy.'
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The surrounding southern Alberta region has also played host to productions like the Fargo and Under The Banner of Heaven tv series, and movies like Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Brokeback Mountain and The Revenant, to name a few.
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Yedlin says every dollar spent on a film production in and around Calgary results in about $4 generated for the economy at large.
For the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 212, about 1,600 members typically spend this time of year gearing up for a busy summer of work.
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'Right now we probably have about 65 per cent of our members working,' explained union representative Lee Proudlock. 'That number will probably fluctuate a bit throughout the summer.
'We're already estimating a slower year so this uncertainty could put a bit of a damper on that as well.'
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Provinces and countries have long competed for big-ticket films by offering tax incentives — something Proudlock says Alberta could look at as a way to potentially offset the U.S.-inflicted pain.
'As a union, we have been — not alarm bells ringing — but starting to mention that maybe our tax incentive might need a slight boost up to compete with some Canadian and international markets.'
2:03
Trump pitches tariff on films not produced in the U.S.
There's still no word on how or when the tariffs would be implemented. Proudlock and Yedlin both believe that process could prove extremely complicated.
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In the meantime, Calgarians are all hoping for a change of course in Washington.
'I'm hoping folks in the White House understand that film and television production are best done at a global scale,' said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.
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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
No Kings protests against Trump's policies expected to sweep U.S. on Saturday
Social Sharing A U.S.-wide demonstration against President Donald Trump, planned for months and to be held Saturday, has ballooned in scope since protests against the administration's immigration raids broke out last week. Cities across the U.S. and the world are preparing for nearly 2,000 planned "No Kings" rallies this weekend — which were organized in response to the flamboyant military Flag Day parade Trump is holding in Washington, D.C. Flag Day happens to fall on the president's birthday — Trump turns 79 this year. The number of rallies has grown throughout the week, but there is not one planned for the U.S. capital. Organizers say that they want to draw attention elsewhere. Though initially unrelated to widespread protests against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Los Angeles and other U.S. cities over the past week, the No Kings "day of defiance" couldn't be more timely, says Vicki Miller, whose group has been planning the Philadelphia No Kings demonstration since April. "It makes the urgency of everything we're talking about even more clear," said Miller, the Philadelphia leader of Indivisible, an organization that was created after Trump was first elected in 2016. The No Kings website says the aim of the demonstrations is to take action "to reject authoritarianism" of the current U.S. government. "They've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too far," the group writes. The website features a map of the U.S. with black dots showing all the locations where rallies are planned. Rallies are also being held in other countries in solidarity. In Toronto, a "No Tyrants" demonstration is planned for noon local time across from the U.S. consulate on University Avenue. Organizers like Miller have sought to make a distinction between their rallies and the clashes that have erupted in Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, in recent days. Trump federalized and deployed California's National Guard without Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom's consent in response to the protests. The move has been criticized as a display of the very authoritarianism protesters are trying to denounce. However, No Kings organizers say their plan is to remain on the straight and narrow. "We've never had any hint of violence in any of our protest rallies in Philadelphia," said Miller, a retired lawyer. "We're working with the city very closely." Miller said Indivisible is planning for at least 60,000 people to attend its rally Saturday. There will be 100 volunteer marshals present, who have been trained on de-escalation, and the group holds regular meetings on how to defuse tense situations, Miller said. But with protests gaining momentum across the U.S. and now elsewhere in the world, U.S. city and state officials are on high alert for what could unfold. Parade to feature 7,000 troops Washington, D.C., where the Flag Day parade will take place, has declared the event a "National Special Security Event," with a heavy Secret Service and law enforcement mobilization. The parade will feature more than 7,000 military troops, 150 vehicles and 50 helicopters. Texas's Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has put his state's National Guard "on standby" ahead of the No Kings rallies. At a news conference Wednesday, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson expressed concern that Trump was "determined to insert chaos" ahead of the rallies. "Our responsibility is to continue to provide calm and structure to the situation," Johnson said. He said the city would "protect the fundamental right to protest and demonstrate peacefully, and if individuals work outside of those confines, will hold them accountable." Tuesday, Trump said he hadn't "even heard about a protest, but you know, this is people that hate our country, but they will be met with very heavy force." Protesting 'with the young ones' Many of the people CBC News spoke with who plan to attend No Kings rallies said they are not regular protesters. Armida Vicente-Sanchez, a 29-year-old welder who is organizing the No Kings rally in the small city of Dalton, Ga., where she lives, said her rally "has nothing to do with what's going on in L.A. Like, this is our own protest." "We're not trying to start anything like riots or nothing like that," said Vicente-Sanchez, who says she has family members who fear being targeted by ICE. For Clara Cáceres Contreras, though, No Kings is nothing new. The 70-year-old from McAllen, Texas, which sits across the Rio Grande from Reynosa in Mexico, says she has protested Trump every opportunity she's had. "I go out there and I protest with the young ones and I'm wearing my heels," she said. Cáceres Contreras said she is dismayed by the Republican Party's immigration policies under Trump. "They're arresting people that are working. These are working people," she said. "It's like going fishing in an aquarium." The retired education worker says the immigration raids in Los Angeles have given her "more" motivation to join the Saturday rally in McAllen. "Absolutely. My sister lives in L.A. Yes ma'am," she said. "I see the people there and I'm with them. They have a voice." She said she protested the border wall Trump used taxpayer money to build in his first term and that she is now protesting the Flag Day parade he is using taxpayer money to fund. The U.S. was built on rejecting a monarchy, Cáceres Contreras said, "and he thinks he's the king or something."
Winnipeg Free Press
2 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Good night — and good luck
Opinion First, a disclaimer: the following remarks do not apply to MSNBC TV journalists Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell, or to contemporary independent commentators Heather Cox Richardson or Robert Reich, or to the online political guerrilla site Fear and Loathing: Closer to the Edge. They are all yelling as loudly as they possibly can. Everyone else in the American media? It's well past time for you to slap yourselves upside the head and try to remember one essential aspect of competent journalism: context is everything. An average Grade 2 student could accurately connect the dots on the map that is U.S. President Donald Trump's now-detailed sketch of the American police state that is no longer just on the horizon. It's here. It marched into Los Angeles, garbed in military camouflage costumes, on a restive weekend filled with protests over ICE gestapo raiding, of all places, a Home Depot, looking for people with the wrong skin colour (if they're brown, they must be illegals). What to make of Trump's magnificent June 14 military parade, the one purportedly celebrating the American military's 250th anniversary, but which we all know is his big, beautiful birthday gift to himself? The one he so obviously modelled after all those tawdry spectacles in countries led by dictators he has so publicly admired— both the dictators and their pretty masses of toy soldiers and tanks? Icing on the cake he's already baked. On a weary Monday morning, one CNN anchor raised, during her interview with Los Angeles's mayor, the latest poll showing 54 per cent of Americans approve of Trump's immigration policy. The mayor pushed back, suggesting the anchor might look more deeply into that poll. The anchor clumsily conceded that more Americans are uncomfortable with the details of how that policy is being carried out — and hastily concluded the interview. She did not cut to a commercial break; she just didn't want to go there any further with the mayor. Less than an hour later, another CNN anchor gushed about the network's Saturday night simulcast of the Broadway play Good Night and Good Luck, cooing about how Edward R. Murrow's journalistically, stubbornly ethical stand (the play is about the infamous McCarthy era in the U.S., for those too young to remember), and remarking 'that is something we journalists all aspire to.' Is it? Is it really? Fascinating that the simulcast effectively displaced any live breaking news coverage of the Saturday night protests in Los Angeles. Let's examine all the dots to see the picture they create. Commentator Robert Reich recently noted the defining characteristics of a police state: • Declaring an emergency, citing rebellion, insurrection, or invasion as the cause. Done; • Using that to justify the use of force by federal agents (ICE, the FBI, DEA, and national guard… and the Marines and American military are positioned to join the fray at some point). Done; • Ordering those agents to make 'dragnet' arrests and abductions with no due process. Done; and • Building more prison space and detention camps for the prisoners rounded up. That's happening now. He listed one more point — the next one. The shoe that's about to drop: using the inevitable escalation of public pushback, driven by fury over the enactment of the first four, as the excuse to declare martial law. With the notable exception of that small group I cited at the beginning of this piece, the American media (and the vast bulk of the Canadian media, too — don't think for a minute you folks are handling this mess any better) has completely failed to connect the dots. They're too busy examining each individual dot, turning each one over and over, to step back and look at the context. It is worth noting that, fixated on each little dot, they failed to examine the comment Trump threw out in an off-the-cuff newser over that tipping point of a weekend for American democracy. Having said he would order in the Marines if the protests went over the line, he was asked by an unusually perceptive reporter where that line is. Weekday Evenings Today's must-read stories and a roundup of the day's headlines, delivered every evening. His reply: 'It is where I say it is.' Pair that with his remark to a rally of ultra-right white Christians during the election campaign: 'Vote for me, and you'll never have to vote again.' How much more obvious does this have to get before the media starts to perform the role for which it is intended in a democracy? America, your police state has arrived. Just remember: once they have come for everyone else, they will be coming for you. MAGA hat or not. Judy Waytiuk is a grey-haired, wrinkled old Winnipeg journalist who remembers when she was proud her profession ranked among the most trusted by the public. These days, she's ashamed to admit she was one.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
As legal fight over Guard deployment plays out, Noem vows to continue Trump's immigration crackdown
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry on with the Trump administration's immigration crackdown despite waves of unrest across the U.S. Hours after her comment Thursday, a judge directed the president to return control to California over National Guard troops he deployed after protests erupted over the immigration crackdown, but an appeals court quickly put the brakes on that and temporarily blocked the order that was to go into effect on Friday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals scheduled a hearing on the matter for Tuesday. The federal judge's temporary restraining order said the Guard deployment was illegal and both violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded President Donald Trump's statutory authority. The order applied only to the National Guard troops and not Marines who were also deployed to the LA protests. The judge said he would not rule on the Marines because they were not out on the streets yet. Gov. Gavin Newsom who had asked the judge for an emergency stop to troops helping carry out immigration raids, had praised the order before it was blocked saying 'today was really about a test of democracy, and today we passed the test' and had said he would be redeploying Guard soldiers to 'what they were doing before Donald Trump commandeered them.' White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the president acted within his powers and that the federal judge's order 'puts our brave federal officials in danger. The district court has no authority to usurp the President's authority as Commander in Chief.' The developments unfolded as protests continued in cities nationwide and the country braced for major demonstrations against Trump over the weekend. 'This is only going to continue,' DHS chief says of raids Noem said the immigration raids that fueled the protests would move forward and agents have thousands of targets. 'This is only going to continue until we have peace on the streets of Los Angeles,' she said during a news conference that was interrupted by shouting from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, a California Democrat who was forcibly removed from the event. Newsom has warned that the military intervention is part of a broader effort by Trump to overturn norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. He also said sending Guard troops on the raids has further inflamed tensions in LA. So far the protests have been centered mostly in downtown near City Hall and a federal detention center where some immigrants are being held. Much of the sprawling city has been spared from the protests. On the third night of an 8 p.m. curfew, Los Angeles police arrested several demonstrators who refused orders to leave a street downtown. Earlier in the night, officers with the Department of Homeland Security deployed flash bangs to disperse a crowd that had gathered near the jail, sending protesters sprinting away. Those incidents were outliers. As with the past two nights, the hours-long demonstrations remained peaceful and upbeat, drawing a few hundred attendees who marched through downtown chanting, dancing and poking fun at the Trump administration's characterization of the city as a 'war zone.' Elsewhere, demonstrations have picked up across the U.S., emerging in more than a dozen major cities. Some have led to clashes with police and hundreds have been arrested. Noem calls action in LA a blueprint The immigration agents conducting the raids in LA are 'putting together a model and a blueprint' for other communities, Noem said. She pledged that federal authorities 'are not going away' even though, she said, officers have been hit with rocks and bricks and assaulted. She said people with criminal records who are in the country illegally and violent protesters will 'face consequences.' 'Just because you think you're here as a citizen, or because you're a member of a certain group or you're not a citizen, it doesn't mean that you're going to be protected and not face consequences from the laws that this country stands for,' she said. Noem criticized the Padilla's interruption, calling it 'inappropriate.' A statement from her agency said the two met after the news conference for about 15 minutes, but it also chided him for 'disrespectful political theater.' Padilla said later that he was demanding answers about the 'increasingly extreme immigration enforcement actions' and only wanted to ask Noem a question. He said he was handcuffed but not arrested. 'If this is how this administration responds to a senator with a question, I can only imagine what they are doing to farmworkers, to cooks, to day laborers throughout the Los Angeles community,' he said. Military involvement escalates in LA The administration has said it is willing to send troops to other cities to assist with immigration enforcement and controlling disturbances — in line with what Trump promised during last year's campaign. Some 2,000 Guard soldiers were in the nation's second-largest city and were soon to be joined by 2,000 more, along with about 700 Marines, said Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who is in charge of the operation. About 500 of the Guard troops deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations, Sherman said Wednesday. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement. States face questions on deploying troops With more demonstrations expected over the weekend, and the possibility that Trump could send troops to other states for immigration enforcement, governors are weighing what to do. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, has put 5,000 National Guard members on standby in cities where demonstrations are planned. In other Republican-controlled states, governors have not said when or how they may deploy troops. A group of Democratic governors earlier signed a statement this week calling Trump's deployments 'an alarming abuse of power.' Hundreds arrested in LA protests There have been about 470 arrests since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department. There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injuries. ___ Rodriguez reported from San Francisco and Seewer from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego, Jesse Bedayn in Denver, and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.
