The province’s Culture Minister admits the makers of the movie Dirty Oil, which will make it’s Calgary debut later this month, were given a grant worth almost $55,000.

Lindsay Blackett tells 660News the decision to approve the subsidy is now a little difficult to swallow.

Blackett says the movie did meet the necessary criteria to receive the money through the province’s Multimedia Production Fund, with the production pumping $300,000 into the economy.

He says it might be time for the government to look at instituting a merit test projects would have to pass before provincial dollars are committed.

But he adds they are not interested in any form of censorship.

The optics of the funding deal are bad, considering the province is spending millions of dollars on public relations campaigns touting the benefits of energy development in northern Alberta.

Energy Analyst Peter Linder with Delta One Capital believes the funding decision was a simple mistake and the controversy will die down very soon.

The Executive Director of Sierra Club Canada, John Bennett, tells 660News it’s concerning a documentary film producer can fool the government and wonders what oil companies can do when reporting their pollution.