Child actors getting lump of coal from Liberals
CHILD ACTORS GETTING LUMP OF COAL FROM LIBERALS BECAUSE LIBERAL MPPS WANT LONGER CHRISTMAS VACATION
Media Release
12 December 2014
Hamilton – New Democrat MPP Paul Miller’s Protecting Child Performers Act creates much-needed legal protection for Ontario’s youngest workers, but political game-playing by the Liberals is holding the bill up. The bill sets out clear rules about how child performers must be treated, protected and supported when performing in recorded or live entertainment. Miller has brought the legislation forward twice, only to have it sunk by Liberal inaction.
New Democrats moved a series of Committee motions to ensure the bill would be dealt with immediately, but the Liberal majority voted these motions down, preferring to not have the committee sit at all.
“This bill creates clear rules and protections for child actors. It’s been supported by all three parties, so let’s get it done,” said Miller. “This bill could have been dealt with this week. But the Liberals said no. We could be dealing with this bill first thing in January. But the Liberals said no, and there is no plan to meet in January at all. It appears to me that the Liberals don’t want to protect child actors.”
Miller first introduced his bill in 2013, where it made its way through committee and was ordered for third and final reading in December 2013. The Liberals never called the bill for its final vote.
Miller re-introduced the bill this summer, and it is ready to go through the committee process. On Monday, December 8, the Liberal majority on committee voted against dealing with the bill before the holidays. Liberal members then voted against dealing with it in the New Year. As a result, the Standing Committee on Social Policy has no scheduled sitting dates in January 2015.
“The Liberals are leaving child performers without protection over the holiday season and now into 2015. This is the one industry in Ontario in which young children work, and too many of them have no legal protection. The Liberals believe their holidays are more important than child actors working in Ontario,” continued Miller.
The bill has all-party support as well as the support of ACTRA and Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.
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