Ms Polley goes to Ottawa

OTTAWA–Legislation allowing a federal cabinet minister to revoke tax credits for film and television productions deemed too racy is “censorship” and will rob Canadian actors of their place on the airwaves, actor Sarah Polley says.

Polley traded the big screen for a star appearance on Parliament Hill yesterday to plead with senators to oppose legislation she denounced as “dangerous and unacceptable.”

The Oscar-nominated actor, director and screenwriter, known for her role on the TV series Road to Avonlea and for her award-winning directorial debut Away from Her, gave an impassioned plea for changes. She said the proposed law threatens not just the artistic quality of productions but also the industry’s financial future.

Hit TV series Corner Gas to run out in 2009

Jackass! They won’t be pumping gas in Dog River, Sask., any more.

Saying he wants to retire at the top of his game, Canadian comedian Brent Butt has announced the sixth season of Corner Gas will be the last. The popular sitcom set in a Saskatchewan gas station will air its final episode some time in spring, 2009.

“It was a very tough decision to make, but it was time,” Mr. Butt, the show’s star and creator, said in an interview yesterday. “The only way for you to end the show in a way that people are not going to think it’s too soon is to do it when it’s too late. And Corner Gas, it’s too special. I couldn’t stand to watch it get to where people were ready for it to leave.”

Mr. Butt said broadcaster CTV “was very upfront” about wanting the series to continue, but he told them he wanted viewers to remember the show at its peak.

Gentlemen, start your cameras

Extreme filmmaking hits the streets of Toronto tonight as more than 20 crews take part in Film Racing, a competition challenging entrants to create an original short film in just 24 hours.

Filmmaking teams start their creative engines at 10 p.m. and must deliver a (hopefully) finished mini-masterpiece by 10 p.m. tomorrow. Entries are screened for the public and a jury, and cash awards (from $500 to $2,500) and other prizes for best writing, best score, best cinematography, and so on, are bestowed next Wednesday night at the Bloor Cinema. (Sorry, aspiring Steven Spielbergs, online registration closed two days ago.)

Founded in 2002 in New York as Midnight Movie Making Madness by a couple of film-school grads, Film Racing (the now more streamlined moniker) has grown to become an annual event – in 17 cities across North America, up from 13 last year.

And Film Racing may even be a springboard to minor greatness for a lucky few filmmakers. In 2003, a Toronto team’s “animal-rights musical,” Dog Given Rights, made as part of the original New York competition, went on to screen at Sundance in 2004.

Raptors star Bosh tells Toronto fans that it’s time they make some noise

TORONTO — Chris Bosh says it’s time Toronto Raptors fans start pulling their weight.

Granted, the Raptors haven’t given fans much to cheer about the past few weeks. But with four games to go in the regular season and Toronto looking to make up ground in the Eastern Conference in hopes of a more favourable post-season opponent, Bosh said the team needs all the help it can get.

And Toronto’s sixth man definitely hasn’t been on his game lately, says the Raptors captain.

“We have some of the best fans in the league, and you can’t tell me they can’t make noise, because in the playoffs it’s ridiculous,” Bosh said Thursday.

Olympic berth sinking in for Beijing-bound women’s soccer team

In the dying seconds of Wednesday’s game, Erin McLeod cradled the ball about to take a goal kick when the referee quietly told the Canadian ‘keeper the game was all but over.

And in that instant, four years of heartache for Canada’s women’s soccer team was erased.

“We were just going crazy,” said striker Christine Sinclair. “Erin had the ball, and the ref said ‘As soon as you kick the ball, the game’s over.’ A group of us heard that and we just started going crazy, and our team dog-piled.”

Melissa Tancredi scored the lone goal as the Canadian women earned their first-ever Olympic berth with a 1-0 victory over Mexico at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Toronto public health unit now monitoring five measles cases

TORONTO — Toronto’s public health agency has confirmed a fifth case of measles in the city in the past four weeks.

Although the health unit is calling it an outbreak, the risk of infection is considered low because of high immunization rates. Toronto Public Health says four of the five current cases are linked to the Ontario Science Centre.

Measles is highly contagious, but most people who get it are sick for about 10 days and recover completely without any treatment.

Supreme Court loses its expert on languages

OTTAWA–Stephen Harper’s Conservative government will have its second opportunity to name a judge to the Supreme Court of Canada with the retirement in June of Michel Bastarache.

The departure of Bastarache, who will be 61 and well shy of the mandatory retirement age of 75 when he steps down, leaves an opening for the appointment of a judge from the Atlantic region.

But since the last two have been francophone New Brunswickers, some yesterday speculated the next Atlantic appointment could come from Newfoundland, which has not had an appointee to the high court since joining Confederation in 1949. Bastarache, an Acadian, replaced Gérard LaForest in 1997.

Actors bring star power to Senate to fight Bill C-10

OTTAWA — Sarah Polley and Wendy Crewson were in the witness chairs at the Senate banking committee yesterday to plead for an amendment to a bill they say will cut the legs out from under Canada’s entertainment industry.

Josée Verner, the Canadian Heritage Minister, wants to end tax credits for Canadian productions that are “contrary to public policy.”

The actors say that means censorship. They agree with a proposal put forth by the Canadian Film and Television Production Association that would deny the tax credits only to productions that violate the Criminal Code of Canada — those that contain child pornography or hate material, for instance.

“If it’s not against the law, you get to say it,” Ms. Polley told the senators, who appeared to enjoy the star-studded diversion from the normally dry fare of the banking committee.