The city is getting the message out that it continues to welcome tv and film productions to the community.

This after the use of a particular type of fake snow called Phos-CHEK was banned last week.

Mayor Al McDonald says they try to balance protection of the environment with economic development.

“We can’t argue against science and we support the decision. Our message to the film industry is we’ve identified 1 product out of 100 that we have concerns about. Let’s work together and come up with other products that you can use,” he says.

The city says this year the PHOS-CHEK product was used in 5 of the 16 projects that were filmed in North Bay.
Douglas Brisbois (above) is the location manager for the company behind the tv show Carter which will be shooting its 2nd season in North Bay next year.

He says using a different type of fake snow product would not prevent the show from being shot here.

“We would have filmed here whether there was a product issue here or not. It’s not an important aspect of why we come to the north,” Brisbois says.

He says the major aspects are the northern fund, the location, the openess of the film industry here and the permanent office which works very hard to make it all come together,” Brisbois says.

David Euler (below) is the city’s managing director of Environmental Services and Works.

He says an overspray of PHOS-CHEK burned vegetation at the waterfront causing the city to have to replace dead shrubs and plants.

And then they did a review called the Rainbow Trout test.

“When he saw that such a small solution .001 % would kill half of the rainbow trout in the test sample in a 96 hour period was really concerning,” he says.

He says the city reviewed the results with the conservation authority and an environmental consulting firm and they concurred with the city’s interpretation of the test.

The city points out that the typical amount used was 200 times greater than what was used in the test they did thus the decision to issue the ban.

Filed under: Al McDonald North Bay, Carter TV series, David Euler, Phos-Chek