Nova Scotia Has Seriously Pissed Off the Trailer Park Boys with a Tax Credit Cut

It's a cut the Trailer Park Boys, Jonovision, and Snoop Dogg can't handle.

The Trailer Park Boys and Jonathan Torrens rallied with at least 1,000 protesters outside the Nova Scotia legislature Wednesday, while inside, the finance minister defended her government's decision to kill most of the province's film tax credit.

"The tax credit as it exists is too rich for this province," Finance Minister Diana Whalen said during question period. "It costs taxpayers dollars, a great deal of taxpayer dollars, that people that don't have subsidies are paying for this film tax credit."

When Whalen first hinted at changes to the tax credit in early April, the Trailer Park Boys kicked off a social media campaign and video #SaveSunnyvale, prompting decidedly non-Bluenosers such as Snoop Dogg and Axl Rose to tweet support for Nova Scotia film jobs.

On April 9, the Liberal government announced a plan to slash the 100-percent-refundable tax credit to only 25-percent-refundable. The credit costs the province $24 million each year. The new budget includes a new $6-million fund for film and related industries starting in 2016.

Protesters say Premier Stephen McNeil had the audacity to cut the credit despite a 2013 election promise to extend it by five years.

Film-industry workers said the tax credit encourages crews to shoot shows like This Hour Has 22 Minutes, Book of Negroes, Haven, Mr. D, and Hope for Wildlife in Nova Scotia.

The province's film industry directly generated about 1,140 full-time jobs in 2013-14, according to the Canadian Media Production Association. That number grows to 2,730 full-time jobs if you include spin-offs. People in the industry are worried those jobs will now migrate elsewhere along with the cash those employees spend in NS.

The province certainly slighted an industry that knows how to put on a show.

Jonathan Torrens hosted the rally from a stage flanked by PAs and 15-foot-wide screens.

"Our industry is growing, our families are growing and yes, the amount of income tax we pay is growing because this is working," Torrens said of the tax credit.

"Most importantly today, let's be very clear: we're here as taxpayers, we're here as voters, and we're here as skilled labourers who want to stay in this place we love, doing the jobs we love, and continuing to contribute to this economy."

Nearly 5,000 people signed a paper petition circulating during the seven-hour protest.

It was poor timing for federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who happened to be in Halifax Wednesday campaigning for the upcoming election a few blocks away from the rally.

Actor and director Cory Bowles, best known for his supporting part in Trailer Park Boys, said he spoke to the Liberal leader at Halifax's new central library and asked him about the film tax credit.

"We really just spoke about the dire situation that we're in right now, and we were really just asking where his leadership is in all this," Bowles said.

"We were basically making it clear to him that this has a profound effect on the Liberals as a whole, and the sense of betrayal we felt, and the breach of trust and the fact that it was done without any consultation."

In a video of the exchange, Trudeau promised to bring the concerns about the tax credit to the NS Liberals.

"I'm glad you guys are sharing this message with Mr. McNeil," the Liberal leader said. "I will pass along personally this message you brought with me to Mr. McNeil, and from the federal side, one of the things that I campaign on, one of the things that I engage with from the very beginning is a federal government that is a much better partner, not just on arts and culture, but a partner to provincial governments.

"I can do nothing but tell you that I will pass on your message to Mr. McNeil, and share how important this is, and re-emphasize that arts and culture is important to me as I know it is important to Liberals everywhere, and I look forward to seeing how this gets resolved," Trudeau said.

"We hope that we made a bit of a dent, and we'll see," Bowles told VICE.

"We will meet with the industry on Friday," Whalen promised during question period.

"There is definitely room for common ground and I would think everybody in the industry should wait and see how their representatives and the government can come to that common place," she said.

Follow Hilary Beaumont on Twitter.