In Late October 1999 Ian Waddell, then B.C. Minister of Small Business, Tourism and Culture, visited the premises of ACT. The Ministry, through its Equity Capital Program provides the funding for the Venture Capital Corporation (VCC) program, in which Media West Technologies (VCC) Corp. participates. In meetings with company president Edgar Froese, the Minister expressed particular interest in the World Heritage Exchange, ACT’s premiere service. Mr. Waddell later observed a demo of the Cinemage® system.
“Another priority for the Government is to ensure the availability of Canadian cultural content on-line. Initiatives will include the digitization of collections and exhibitions of the National Archives of Canada, the National Library of Canada and related institutions so that Canadians will have access to them through the Internet. As well, a virtual museum will be created by linking the collections and exhibits of some 1,000 museums for on-line access by all Canadians. To this end, this budget allocates $20 million in 2000-01, growing to $30 million by 2002-03, to enrich Canadian content on the Internet.”