lultor said: Dodece said: I am terribly confused isn't Canada doing what a competent government is supposed to do. Encourage foreign investment in their economy, and strengthen their local economy with good paying jobs. What a novel concept sounds like something Britain should consider. I am not even seeing unfair competition here its not like the economies in question are disproportionate to one another. I might see the point if there were game development sweat shops with poorly paid Canadians sweating over hot keyboards. With no benefits and a overbearing boss that brings a cattle prod to work every morning to keep the peons in line during their sixteen hour shifts. While has special assistant hides the employees shoes and sprinkled broken glass outside the building. Nothing will come of this anyway its my experience in life that any group or organization that use apostrophes in its title is the kind of organization that will never commit to anything. Hell its hard to even be intimidated by such a group without first saying what exactly is it you do again? I am also reasonably sure such a group also accumulates pointless tasks then need never be assigned.   Governments arent supposed to unfairly support companies so that they can beat the competition in other countries, if uk decided to give their game companies money and tax breaks then canada would be upset and screwed aswell and it can end up a worldwide trade war where all governments start supporting their video game companies then where would we be? The companies get rich off the governments fighting each other for development in this sector. Its similar to subsidizing farmers so that they can sell their goods cheap, its similar to cheap labor in that the government pays part of the costs, in this case it seems to be in the form of tax cuts which is debatable how unfair an advantage it gives but the principal is still the same. For fair trade to work companies need to have equal opportunities wherever they do their business.

Although Canada actually does deserve some of the blame over this there's something that hasn't been mentioned in these news stories. Basically videogame studios and publishers in the UK want the same tax breaks that the British film industry enjoys. Many of the companies complaining don't actually plan on moving to Canada, instead they feel that videogames should be treated the same way as movies are. So it's a little hypocritical of the UK to be speaking out about these tax credits when they do the exact same thing with movies.

For reference here's an article about the British film tax credits...

http://www.forbes.com/afxnewslimited/feeds/afx/2006/12/06/afx3232143.html

UK's Brown confirms new film tax credits

12.06.06, 8:18 AM ET

"LONDON (AFX) - UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown confirmed a new set of tax breaks for production companies making films in Britain will come into effect at the start of 2007.

The confirmation came as Brown delivered his tenth and probably last pre-budget report to the House of Commons.

In his March annual budget, the Chancellor relaxed the rules governing tax breaks for movie companies making films in the UK.

Production houses spending 25 pct of a film's budget in the UK will be able to enjoy the new tax credit, compared with an earlier proposal for a 40 pct qualifying threshold.

Under the new rules, films with UK production budgets of up to 20 mln stg can earn a tax credit of 20 pct. For bigger budget films, the tax credit level will be 16 pct.

simon.duke@afxnews.com"

NintendoMan said: What a silly thing on the UK's behalf. Then again our government is hopelessly incompetent so I'm not that surprised. @jessman - your sig is very wrong

Are you saying that rooney should be blowing ronaldo??

what do they expect. were free loading canadians!

if we really did have an actual war, we would run away like pussys and continue with our peace keeping missions as usual lol.

makingmusic476 said: TheUltimateLife said: canada also has like free health care or something, I watched that sicko movie, it was an eye opener! sounds like canada is the place to be right now It's far from free, and many people with serious illnesses come to America because they can't recieve treatment quick enough in Canada. Imagine healthcare run by the government. Going to a hospital would be like going to the DMV. Okay, it wouldn't be that bad, but it's still not so great.

 I don't need to imagine that, I live here. Our healthcare system may not be perfect but I hold it as one of my greatest honours of being Canadian as it represents one of the (political) beliefs I hold dearest to my heart - A government has the responsibility to protect its citizens. Protection is usually only perceive in to the form of Police and National Security, but surely ensuring all of your citizens have adequate access to health care is protecting them, wouldn't you agree?

 

Anyhow, this is the gaming forum. So, on topic... We pretty much kick ass. 

"Blame Canada"

Combine this with our awesome laws....or lackthereof when it comes to piracy and Canada is just plain great :)

Actually if it makes you Europeans feel better, when it comes to a lot of the tech centre, Canadian companies hold near monopolies when it comes to things like Cellphones and Internet. We have so few companies that compete with each other that prices for these products are way higher then they are in many of the European nations.

makingmusic476 said: TheUltimateLife said: canada also has like free health care or something, I watched that sicko movie, it was an eye opener! sounds like canada is the place to be right now It's far from free, and many people with serious illnesses come to America because they can't recieve treatment quick enough in Canada. Imagine healthcare run by the government.  Going to a hospital would be like going to the DMV.  Okay, it wouldn't be  that bad, but it's still not so great.

As an american who has lived in Canada before(LaPraire Quebec). I can only speak for what I have seen between the two countries. But in Canada it appeared to be much better overall than what we see in the US. You can rip on the clinics all you want until you end up in a busy ER(I sat in an ER for 2 hours when I went in for a concussion once and I have health insurance) in the US and not only see what you pay but actually get worse service. The US has some of the best doctors in the world though and has some great facilities which would bring people here regardless of the system but in general what I have seen of the Canadian system was much much better unless it went into the tank over the past 10 years or unless Montreal is an excption.

Tax breaks are a standard incentive governements of developed countries use the world over to bring investment / development into thier countries. It's not like the UK doesn't do it in other industries.
As far as Canadian movie industry, California and other film areas started doing the same and has drawn a lot of the business back to their territories.

I think the UK government is just blowing a lot of smoke to applease people and not have to give up tax revenue.