Brendan Brady, CEO and executive producer at Accent Aigu Entertainment, which produces the Crave gay romance hockey drama, told the Globe & Mail that the show is withholding the coveted item from the Canadian Prime Minister until support of Canadian Content is clear. “If we’re on pause with the government, then the fleece is on pause until we know," he says.
It seems Mark Carney won’t be getting his coveted Heated Rivalry fleece anytime soon.
According to The Globe and Mail, the production company behind the hit Canadian hockey drama, Accent Aigu Entertainment, says it won’t be sending the Canadian Prime Minister the show's hyped Team Canada fleece until the future of the Online Streaming Act is clear.
“We actually have one of those fleeces on hold for him that we want to send to him,” CEO and executive producer Brendan Brady said. “But obviously I think we’re waiting to see how this goes and making sure that everything gets cleared up for the Online Streaming Act to be enacted for real for us, so we might just be holding off on that.”
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He continued: “If we’re on pause with the government, then the fleece is on pause until we know.”
So, why would Carney even want one of the fleeces? While it’s a hot item within the show’s fandom, the prime minister was seen sporting the sold-out Province of Canada fleece earlier this year, posing with one of the two leads, actor Hudson Williams, during a Canadian Media Producers Association event. The white fleece was initially seen on Williams’ Shane Hollander during the second episode of the hit show.
At the event, Brady and Jacob Tierney, Heated Rivalry’s writer, director and executive producer, met with Carney. Brady noted that the Prime Minister “seemed to really have, what I believe he called, a bromance with Hudson, and especially getting to wear the fleece that so catapulted into the zeitgeist.” But Carney’s own personal fleece will have to wait.
Recently, there have been changes to the Canadian Content fund requirements in the Online Streaming Act. Introduced back in 2024, it required foreign streaming services operating in Canada and earning over $25 million annually to pay 5% to national organizations and initiatives. In May, the federal government announced its plans to triple it to 15%.
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That provoked backlash from the major streaming companies and Trump's U.S. government, prompting culture minister Marc Miller to the federal government to announce a $600 million annual investment in music and media to “provide stability and immediate support to Canada’s audio and audiovisual sectors.”
Brady called the annual investment a “Band-Aid,” noting that the funding is only successful within the confines of the current Liberal government. “We need something that is going to have teeth and support Canada’s cultural sector in the long term,” he said, asking the government to “figure out how we can preserve our cultural sovereignty.”
In addition, Miller is said to be updating the Online Streaming Act’s policy direction to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), requesting that the commission adjust how the funds from foreign streamers are allocated.
“We intend to develop a policy direction that takes into account affordability for Canadians, while providing greater flexibility for those contributing to the broadcasting,” Alisson Lévesque, a spokesperson for Miller, told The Globe in a statement. No timeline has been given, but Lévesque says the federal government plans to “move quickly to ensure stability and predictability.”
