With the exception of Directors, the crew would be almost entirely local. It’s cheaper and opens the project up to tax credits. Also, the whole province of British Columbia only has had less than 9000 cases compared to NYC’s 245K, or LA county’s 262K.

I completely understand wanting the business in one’s own economy,…

Dropping the N-Bomb is racist because the word itself is inherently racist. The dictionary defines it as: “an insulting and contemptuous term for a dark skinned/black person”
So calling someone a N-word is racist even if they aren’t black because the implication is that they are “lesser, like a black person.”