#ACTRA : 'Us'(Canada) vs 'Them'(U.S.)/ ACTRA vs SAG-AFTRA/ Ontario Taxpayers vs Ontario ACTRA Members

V———————————-( Hugh Betcha )—————————————-V

Which advertising agency was hired to work on the new "US Partnership Campaign"?

Did the Ontario government hire a Canadian advertising agency or an American advertising agency to make the commercials that are going to be aired on Fox News in prime time and during the Superbowl and NFL games in the U.S.?

Are the people posing as workers in the U.S. Partnership Campaign commercial American SAG-AFTRA union members or Canadian ACTRA union members? Are they all ACTRA union members or all SAG-AFTRA union members or a combination of SAG-AFTRA members and ACTRA members? Are any of them people who have absolutely nothing to do with ACTRA or SAG-AFTRA or the film, television, and commercial industry ( e.g..- actual members of a construction crew )?

Is the off-camera narrator of the commercial a U.S. based SAG-AFTRA union member or a Canada based ACTRA union member, or someone who is not a member of ACTRA or SAG-AFTRA?

Was the archival footage of the bridge being built filmed by a Canadian camera crew or an American camera crew? Did Ontario have to pay an American company a licencing fee to use any of the archival footage that was used in the commercial?

The U.S. Partnership campaign is going to cost the Ontario government tens of millions of taxpayer dollars when it's all said and done.

How the Americans who the campaign was made to win over are going to respond to the commercial remains to be seen.

It's an expensive bet that could end up changing nothing. The tens of millions of Ontario taxpayer dollars that would be wasted if the campaign doesn't pan out could have been spent on things that Ontarians use and need in their daily lives on this side of the border.

Would the Executive Directors and Presidents of the ACTRA branches in Ontario be upset about the Ontario government wasting tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a bet that didn’t pay off ?

Or would ACTRA be more upset about the Ontario government using SAG-AFTRA union members or non-union performers in the commercial instead of ACTRA union members?

Would the Executive Directors and Presidents of the ACTRA branches in Ontario celebrate the waste of ten of millions of Ontario taxpayer dollars if a portion of those wasted taxpayer dollars ended up in ACTRA’s coffers?

Would the Executive Directors and Presidents of the ACTRA branches in Ontario keep their mouths shut about the Ontario government wasting tens of millions of Ontario taxpayer dollars on the U.S. Partnership campaign if ACTRA managed to make some political ‘blood money’ from the campaign?

MEDJCT (Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade) provided the following information: A Canadian firm was retained, via a second stage competition by Supply Ontario, for Ontario’s advertising campaign in the U.S.

ACTRA’s Executive Directors and Presidents didn’t provide that information to their union members.

ACTRA’s leaders either knew that information or they didn’t.

If they didn’t know WHY didn’t they find out and pass that information on to the ACTRA union members?

If they did know WHY didn’t they tell the ACTRA union members?

It’s literally the Ontario ACTRA union members’ business to know if ACTRA’s union leaders are or aren’t doing business with the agencies that are hiring performers to be in their commercials.