Oh, Canada!

Blithely ignorant of the tragic consequences to the families of Hollywood’s TV and film technicians who have been dispossessed by runaway production, Howard Rosenberg quips that “there may be almost as many U.S. citizens in Canada these days as Canadians” (“UPN Scores Nicely With ‘Power Play,’ ” June 14).

Can he be unaware of the dismantling of a national treasure--the Hollywood community of film craftsmen--or is he just uninterested? The bitter truth is that the producers are outsourcing by taking advantage of Canada’s unfair trade policies (which our pro-NAFTA president and Congress are unwilling to tackle), which offer huge tax incentives, enormous wage rebates and pitiful wages, while preventing American workers from traveling with the productions from Hollywood to Canada by severely penalizing producers who wish to bring their American crew.

America’s greedy producers then bring their product--tariff free!--back into this country to show on our broadcast networks and in our theaters. Shame on them!

MICHAEL KATZ

Gaffer, IATSE Local 728,

Electrical Lighting Technicians

Santa Monica