THE CANADIAN COMPANY BEHIND THE FILM REBATES SCAM

by a Blog Reader

The Maltese government is heavily funding foreign filming, concerts, and events such as the Malta Film Awards and the Christina Aguilera concert. It is a government drowning in debt, having doubled the national debt in a mere ten years. Yet, it continues to spread millions of euros like chicken feed for questionable “investments.” We reveal today how a Canadian woke company is behind most of this runaway spending, writing reports whose purpose is to justify the Maltese government’s extravagant give-aways that have made the Film Commissioner the lord of the skies, flying from one exotic location to another, dropping helicopter money on Hollywood-at-large.

Add to this the inept Tourism Minister, Clayton Bartolo, who can’t hold the podium by himself in justifying what is transpiring. Last Friday, at the podium, he looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights, in the tax rebate scam of epic proportions.

Duo

Today’s story starts in Canada, in a company called Nordicity which the Maltese government ropes in for its reports justifying the pillaging of our taxpayer resources for the titans of Hollywood. Nordicity is a consulting company, existing primarily for the benefit of North American entertainment and media organisations which seek government funding and sponsorships. These range from Ontario’s Computer Animation and Visual Effects Companies to the Racial Equity Media Collective seeking funding for “black, indigenous and people of colour,” from the Canadian Women/Womxn-led (sic!) Digital Media to the Aboriginal Production in the Prairie Provinces, from the sparsely populated Nunavut’s Arts and Culture Sector (accessible only by plane or boat) to Music Canada (called “the next big bang” in the Nordicity report). As predicted, in each and every case, Nordicity supports the pumping of millions of Canadian taxpayer dollars into the clients’ pet projects. Commissioning Nordicity to evaluate the Maltese government’s funding of North American filming, is like the government asking the construction industry to author a report about the wisdom of granting more building permits to the industry. “Yes, Sir, a lot more.”

The company claims to operate “all over the world… creating a 20-hour workday.” In reality, it has three staff members in London and the rest are all in Canada. They excel in doing for the client what the client wants. Take the case of Kristian Roberts, the firm’s only Co-CEO and Managing Partner. We are told on the company’s website that Kristian “solves problems in a practical… way, balancing clients’ ideal outcomes with the ‘Art of the Possible.’ He prefers building friendships with clients, and then collaborating with those friends.” You can’t make this stuff up. This is why we quote Nordicity word for word. His highest degree is in politics. One can imagine Minister Bartolo telling him that the Filming Commission has been caught with its pants down, losing millions on rebates and international travel for the film commissioner and his secretary. Could Noridicity author a supporting report? Welcome Kristian Roberts, a friend among friends with the self-professed ‘Art of the Possible.’

Nordicity

Or take Nordicity’s three senior analysts. The first one, Lianne McRadu, claims that her highest degree is a diploma in urban planning. The second one, Hong Yoong, taught Latin and classical mythology before joining the firm. In case you’re underestimating his expertise, “his primary research focus was on the poet Ovid.” The third one, Owen Sherman, is a gender-confused homosexual who wants to be referred to as “they” instead of “him” or “her.” We will not comply. Respectfully, we reserve “they” for the globe trotting film commissioner and his secretary. Mr Sherman’s highest degree, an M.A., is in disability studies. Astonishingly, he is trusted with “a wide range of projects with research, data management [and] analysis.” There go the tax rebates through the analysis mill.

Nordicity’s most celebrated senior associate is Judith Moses for whom they list no educational qualifications. She was a lifelong civil servant of sorts, wearing different hats, and a failed Liberal candidate. Her role is to put pressure on the Liberal Canadian government to sponsor the gifted talents of the Nunavut in the remotest snow-blanketed Comino of Canada. Her bio hits a climax in its conclusion: “Judith is a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, born on the Six Nations Indian Reserve.” Can you imagine? Nobody in Malta has ever achieved this. You may have been born in il-Mandraġġ or Strada Stretta, but the queen won’t pin a medal to your white meat. It’s not that you don’t deserve it. The problem is… Well, let’s say the queen is dead.

These are the brains behind the friends-of-friends report where, as we showed in an earlier article, the scam includes counting the same crew members in Malta repeatedly as if they were different film crew members. When last Friday the Nordicity representative told the Film Commissioner in the presence of others, including Minister Bartolo, that the tax rebates were creating jobs in industries such as “catering [and] hair and make-up,” the Commissioner was stone-faced. Commissioner Grech was astute enough to realise that he can’t justify 45 million euros in tax rebates for “catering [and] hair and make-up.” So,when Mr Grech took his turn at the podium, he said instead that the 45 million “is sustaining hospitals, pensions, and education.” Thank Labour for the rebates to Hollywood. Without them our hospitals will close like St Luke’s, our pensioners will go hungry, and our schools will lock their front doors.

Copies of the report are not available. Minister Bartolo won’t release them. Sunshine hurts because the whole thing is a cock-up.