Canadian actors feel the pinch as commercial dispute drags on 

Canadian actors say they're feeling the impacts of a 16-month dispute that's prevented them from appearing in commercials from many of the country's largest ad agencies.

"I'm now in a position where I'm very seriously at risk of losing my home," said Kate Ziegler, a Toronto-based actor who has predominantly done commercial voice work.

"Like a lot of Canadians, my mortgage has skyrocketed. That, combined with that loss of stable income that I've had, has created a really challenging problem for me." 

Canada's English-language acting union and the trade organization representing ad agencies have been unable to renegotiate a deal that's set the rules for using actors in ads since the 1960s.

Though mediated negotiations and hearings at the Ontario Labour Relations board are ongoing, actors say they've felt financial and career impacts as work opportunities have dwindled. The actors note that commercial work is vital for those trying to make a living in the industry in Canada.

Companies don't typically create ads for their own products. A brand looking to advertise a product or service works with an agency, which then produces the ads. For example, the agency Cossette typically creates ads for McDonald's Canada, among other clients. 

The bulk of ad agencies in Canada are represented by the Institute of Canadian Agencies (ICA). English language actors in Canada are represented by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA).

Going back to the 1960s, ACTRA and the ICA have worked together under a set of terms outlined in a National Commercial Agreement (NCA). Those terms are negotiated every few years. The agreement expired in April 2022 and the two parties have not yet reached a new deal.

The ICA says on its website that the dispute originates from a clause inserted in the NCA in 2008, designed to allow U.S. agencies to use unionized Canadian actors when making foreign commercials in Canada. Foreign companies would use a third-party company to engage union members on their behalf.

The ICA says that since this clause was introduced, new Canadian agencies that aren't members of the ICA have been able to use both non-union and union talent, accessing the latter via third-party companies without having to sign the agreement.

In May 2022, an ACTRA memo responded to those claims, saying the union made proposals to address the issue of third parties being used by agencies, noting there were only a few doing so. Actra says the ICA did not respond to those proposals and instead left the bargaining table. 

ACTRA has accused the ICA of bargaining in bad faith, filing a complaint with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. The ICA says the NCA is a commercial contract, not a collective agreement. Mediated negotiations continue, while OLRB hearings on the matter are scheduled into 2024.

Both ACTRA president Eleanor Noble and ICA president and CEO Scott Knox declined to comment on ongoing negotiations, citing the need for confidentiality.

Ziegler, the voice-over actor, says to make ends meet she's started working as a waitress, and is looking at becoming certified as an intimacy co-ordinator for film and television, but the adjustment has been difficult.