TORONTO -- Actors in the provinces of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan have walked off the job after last-ditch efforts between them and the associations repping Canadian producers to hammer out a new Independent Production Agreement failed.

The talks deadline of 12:01 Monday January 8 came and went without an agreement and although the two sides continued at the table into the early hours of the morning, members of The Alliance of Cinema, Television and Radio Artists were officially on strike.

"At this point, it appears that ACTRA will be on strike as of Monday morning, January 8, 2007," said a post on the ACTRA website. "An ACTRA strike affects all IPA film and television productions in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, except those that have signed continuation letters with ACTRA."

More than 30 productions in those provinces have inked such letters, and ACTRA instructed thesps on those productions to report to work as usual. They include "Deal or No Deal," "Totally Spies," "72 Hours True Crime," "Dresden Files," "Elijah" "Rick Mercer Report," "Royal Canadian Air Farce," and "Schadenfreude."

"The producers' stand is we'll stay as long as required," said Jeff Brinton, spokesman for the Canadian Film & Television Production Association, "and that may take all night."

Brinton said that tone of the dialogue is "pleasant" and "productive" in spite of the fact that the deadline has passed. "We're really still at that critical point," he said. "We're still dealing with very minute details around the new media proposal."

New media and wages have been the sticking point of the negotiations, which commenced in October.

Actors in Quebec are skedded to walk off the job as of Wednesday January 10, and thesps in other provinces, according to the ACTRA website, will follow "shortly after."

Striking thesps were instructed to picket the sets of two Toronto production offices, "The Best Years," a dramatic series for the N about a girl's first year of college that was skedded to lens until March and "Til Death Do Us Part," a true crime series hosted by director John Waters for Court TV that was to wrap lensing January 29.

This is the first time in ACTRA's 63-year history that the union has called a strike.

Production in British Columbia is covered by a different agreement, and in contrast to the production chill that has gripped Toronto in recent months, production in Vancouver in particular is booming. The Union of BC Performers has expressed solidarity with ACTRA, but on its website ACTRA gives thesps working under the UBCP agreement their blessing to report to work as usual.

Both ACTRA and the associations repping producers, the CFTPA and the APFTQ are planning press conferences Monday January 8.