policy". Public reaction Critics of the clause argued that it was equivalent to censorship because most Canadian films cannot afford to be produced without government assistance. After the Bill passed the Commons on October 29, 2007, opposition parties said that they did not notice the controversial clause. Several Senators said that they intended to send the bill back to the Commons. At the Senate hearings on the bill, the Minister of Canadian Heritage gave an explanation for the clause. She said that the test of "contrary to public policy" had been used in the regulations, and that the clause had been included by previous drafts of the bill proposed by the previous Liberal government. She also explained the purpose for the clause: "It ensures that the government has the ability, in exceptional circumstances, to exclude certain material from public support. There is material that is potentially illegal under the Criminal Code, such as indecent material, hate propaganda, and child pornography. Currently, no provision in the Income Tax Act or regulations exclude such material. Bill C-10 addresses this loophole, in particular." The hearings in the Senate committee on the bill were described as a "gong show" by Jim Abbott, MP, the parliamentary secretary to the Minister of Canadian heritage. Opponents of the clause, such as director David Cronenberg and actor-director Sarah Polley argued that it amounted to government censorship of videos and movies. Supporters of the clause, such as Charles McVety, president of the Canada Family Action Coalition, and Diane Watts, a researcher with REAL Women of Canada, argued that public funding should not be given to movies which are offensive to large numbers of Canadians. Iconic of the debate was a contemporary Canadian film titled Young People Fucking. The film contained no pornographic material and received favourable reviews and a relatively wide distribution for a Canadian film. It was released in 2007, a year after the clause had first been introduced in Bill C-36 in 2006. However, it was cited by some Conservative parliamentarians as an example of a film which would not receive financial aid under Bill C-10. Senators and MPs were invited to view an advance screening of the film. Steve Hoban, the producer of the film, explained that the clause would introduce uncertainty into the funding arrangements for film productions. In his view, uncertainty about the availability of tax credits would make it more difficult to get