The Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce made history with a locally written policy adopted by the Alberta Chambers of Commerce.

Policy Coordinator for the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce, Alex Zabel, says they took a close look at the policy after being approached by an organization representing film and television producers.

"We found that there was something that really needed to be done here. The Provincial government had recently changed the policy when they came into power, but it didn't quite go far enough, so it still really limited the projects that were able to come into Alberta," she said.

Zabel says an expansion to the Film and Television Tax Credit was needed to bring projects to Alberta after existing grants were changed to a tax credit by the government.

"95 million should be distributed over three years. That really limits what's available, also it puts a cap on the number of projects which is going to turn away projects to other provinces with a more favourable tax credit," said Zabel.

After being approached by organizations challenged by the current tax credit structure, and conversations with Keep Alberta Rolling and the Okotoks Film Festival Society, the Okotoks Chamber wrote the policy and presented it at the Alberta Chamber of Commerce AGM.

The policy, locally written by the Okotoks and District Chamber of Commerce, passed with unanimous approval by all voting delegates.

 

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