The real reason why some American cartoons were voiced in Canada

[Vuxovich]

You think the reason why some American cartoons were voiced in Canada was due to budget constraints? At this moment, I will reveal the real reason why.
Although such experiments were done back in the 1960s, everything started in the mid-1980s with DIC Entertainment. They recorded e.g. Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors et cetera in Toronto until 1988, when they "moved" most of the Canadian voice acting to Vancouver starting with The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil. If I recall correctly, Saban Entertainment did similar experiments, but... They started recording their runaway dubs in Montreal. Also, DIC had an excellent relationship with Saban. Well... Why?
Well, all of this was because of the fact DIC and Saban were both non-union companies, not aligned with any acting union in the United States. To quote this:

DIC is the animation industry's only non-union company, and a 1984 organizing attempt (or unionization effort) failed. Like most animation houses, DIC's concepts, sketches and designs are homegrown. But the inking, painting and photographing of animation cels are done overseas.

This meant that a failed unionization effort was the real reason why DIC Entertainment started recording some of their cartoons in Canada. Also, most of Saban's Los Angeles-based dubs were non-union, as far as I know. The real reason why the Toronto and Vancouver voice talent pools don't get extensive jobs (on American cartoons, anime dubs et cetera) anymore? You can (partially) pin the blame on DIC Entertainment's demise in 2008, since the company recorded their cartoons in Vancouver very extensively. On the other side, it's such a shame New York City-based 4Kids Entertainment never did the voice acting with the Ocean Group, let alone the runaway voice acting in general.

What do you think?

 

[Dantheman]

This may be neither here nor there, but how much did Canadian content broadcasting laws (i.e. the rules that states that Canadian brodcasters have to air a certain amount of recognizably Canadian content) played in this move?

 

[Descendants3Sucks]

Several DIC Cartoons from the late 90s up until the company's closure used voice actors based out of Omaha, who have little to no additional credits. I find this weird, since the cities are 1,553 miles apart.

 

[The Overlord]

This may be neither here nor there, but how much did Canadian content broadcasting laws (i.e. the rules that states that Canadian brodcasters have to air a certain amount of recognizably Canadian content) played in this move?

Canadian content rules usually just mean there will a certain amount of Canadian animated programing that will be created to appease government mandates that may never air in the US or will be super obscure there (unless it becomes a break out hit like Total Drama or Paw Patrol), but plenty of American cartoons, the vast majority, air in Canada regardless of who is doing the voices. Like something Ruby Gloom seemed to have aired almost everywhere, except the US, its been dubbed into Spanish, German., Japanese, etc, but never seemed to have aired in the US.

I think the biggest reason why Canadian voice actors voiced so many American cartoons in the past is due to the Canadian dollar traditionally being weaker than the American dollar, its the same reason why so many American TV shows and movies are filmed in Canada, you pay Canadians with Canadian money and thus can, in fact, pay 40% less than American actors simply due to the exchange rate, even if Canadian and American voice actors get the same take-home pay. That is why say X-Men TAS or X-Men Evolution had a Canadian voice cast. I am not sure why this done far less nowadays.

 

[Mandouga]

Several DIC Cartoons from the late 90s up until the company's closure...

They didn't close exactly. They're now part of Cookie Jar, which is now part of DHX Media, which is now known as WildBrain. On the other hand, the DIC name is now no longer for new shows. It's now only used when referring to the shows DIC made, or otherwise produced*.

*From Inspector Gadget, to Dino Squad. Also, I say "otherwise produced" because they also did certain anime dubs. Additionally, while Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold were co-produced by "DIC", and while they predate Inspector Gadget, it was really Inspector Gadget (and The Littles) that started it all.

 

[Vuxovich]

It's such a shame DIC Entertainment didn't do any anime dub in Vancouver, which is shocking to me since most of their 1990s cartoons were voiced in that city. How about that?

 

[Mesterius]

They didn't close exactly. They're now part of Cookie Jar, which is now part of DHX Media, which is now known as WildBrain. On the other hand, the DIC name is now no longer for new shows. It's now only used when referring to the shows DIC made, or otherwise produced*.

*From Inspector Gadget, to Dino Squad. Also, I say "otherwise produced" because they also did certain anime dubs. Additionally, while Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold were co-produced by "DIC", and while they predate Inspector Gadget, it was really Inspector Gadget (and The Littles) that started it all.

DiC did close. They were bought by Cookie Jar in 2008, and the DiC studio promptly ceased to exist shortly after that. Same with Cookie Jar when they were purchased by DHX in 2012.

Inspector Gadget and The Littles started DiC's success story in the United States, but Ulysses 31 and The Mysterious Cities of Gold certainly deserve to be called DiC shows too. While they were 50-50 co-productions with the Japanese, I'm pretty sure the ideas for both series originated at DiC. It's also fairly safe to say that there wouldn't be any Inspector Gadget or The Littles if not for the huge success of Ulysses 31 in 1981.

 

[Streaker Prower]

Johnny Test was originally your typical 2000s WB Animation Show, but it was dubbed in Canada by the Ocean Group, especially since it later became Canadian due to Budget Cuts (Which resulted into Flashy Animation and Whipcracks galore) and the Show moving to The CW in 2006

 

[PrevueLovesAnimeTV]

Speaking of Canadian content, Some of the American Shows had Overseas Supervisors that worked on Canadian Content like Carl Linton and Scott Mansz and some from Australia like Mark Petlock

 

[PrevueLovesAnimeTV]

Nelvana often chose other Talent Pools like Ocean in BC and Hollywood and NYC and Even Quebec but has always used mostly Voice Talent from the GTA (Greater Toronto Area)

P.S. Sgt Fluffy and Wingus are in that canadian thing again