Re:Arts uproar? Ordinary folks just don’t care, Harper says, Sept. 24

Since the Conservatives seem to underrate the role of the arts in a civil society, perhaps they should read the words of Gabrielle Roy (1909-1983), who wrote, “Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?” And if Stephen Harper needs a copy of those words, he will find them printed on every Canadian $20 bill.

Phillip Silver, Dean Emeritus, Faculty of Fine Arts, York University, Toronto

Stephen Harper minimizes the enormous impact the arts have on the lives of all citizens in this country. By suggesting “ordinary” Canadians only experience the arts by sitting in front of the boob tube to watch galas is an insult. To suggest that their dollars subsidize those galas is misleading, when most of those special occasions are fundraising events paid for by private donors.

Across Canada, communities of all sizes join together in the creation of the arts, and in doing so, strengthen social ties in the celebration of their culture. The arts are also an industry, generating significant economic activity, supporting thousands of jobs and thereby returning millions to the federal government in income taxes. Government funding for the arts is critical to leveraging private sector dollars; when public funding is cut, there is a decrease in private support.

Investment in the arts is, and should remain, a basic component of our education system. It is a well-documented fact that students involved in artistic experiences generally do better at the academic level, as well as having greater success in many other areas of life.

“Ordinary” Canadians do care that the arts improve the quality of life for all of us.

Andrea Valentini, Toronto

This issue is getting blown way out of proportion. The measly $45 million arts cut was for frivolous monies being spent in misguided ways. The funding of arts has to be controlled like any other expenditure. When the likes of an unprintable band name and Avi Lewis get funding for junkets, it is just wrong. I applaud the Conservatives for bringing this to light and acting on it.

Brad Marshall, Georgetown, Ont.

It is time to wake up to the hypocrisy that defines the Conservative party’s view of “funding.” What Steven Harper conveniently omitted from his so-called Canadian perception of “ordinary people” is a list of the financial favours and tax breaks given by his government to huge corporations and conglomerates. It would be interesting to se how many galas and tuxedo affairs these companies manage to host – not to mention those Harper and his wealthy circle of acquaintances have attended.

It is the “ordinary people” who are employed in the tens and hundreds of thousands in the arts sector who benefit from employment due to additional funding – from the sign painter and carpenter on a film shoot to the salespeople in the electronics store, the small corner store and local shops. Unlike huge corporations that always find the means of hiding their profits and losses to their own advantage over a long period, the effects of continuous cutbacks and the horrendous ignorance and indifference displayed by this government result in immediate consequences to the vast majority of Canadians.

As with every Conservative government, Harper will continue to choose who among big business will continue to benefit from his favour as this will always define the platform of the Conservatives. Make no mistake – it will not be of benefit to the “ordinary people.”

Yvonne Ferlatte Locke, Oakville

Stephen Harper did not say: “Ordinary folks don’t care about arts.” The Star has taken paraphrasing to a whole new low in using that as a story headline. The Conservatives have given more funding to the arts than the previous leadership ever did. They do, however, speak for the vast majority of taxpaying Canadians when they call for auditing and control over where the funding goes.

Chris Potts, Ottawa

Rich galas to raise funds for the arts may be attended by a few artists who are “subsidized by taxpayers,” but they are there to meet the wealthy patrons of art and culture to show their appreciation. What is a country without culture? Performers subsidized on trips overseas are a great way of advertising Canada as a country that has more than just mountains. Why do thousands of tourists flock to England, France, Italy, Greece and Turkey? It is for their history, arts and culture. Canada does not have the incredible history of these countries, but thanks to the wealthy patrons of art that we do have in Canada, we can feel proud. It is extremely sad and embarrassing that we have a government that does not also want to be a patron.

Macushla Ginivan, Toronto

One of Stéphane Dion’s finest moments as a leader occurred on Tuesday, when he responded to Stephen Harper’s comment that ordinary people don’t care about arts funding. Dion said bluntly: “We need to stop this man.”

In that brief, non-partisan moment, it was clear that the “we” Dion was referring to included not only his political team, not only the arts community, not only the Liberal party, but everyone, everywhere who cares about Canada’s soul.

Dion’s fervent, earnest call to action gives me hope that he will be willing to do whatever it takes to defeat a government that is slowly but surely draining away the spirit and identify of our country.

Liz Mayer, Belleville, Ont.

Rivals tear into Tory Leader over arts cuts

Harper calls culture funding a ‘niche issue for some,’ defends tougher crime legislation against those ‘who work in ivory towers’

Comments on this story (178)

Robert Benzie
In Montreal
Bruce Campion-Smith
In Vancouver
Les Whittington
In Saskatoon

[original]

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has sparked a culture war in the federal election campaign with a claim that “ordinary people” don’t care about arts funding.

Under fire for his government’s $45 million in cuts to arts and culture funding, the Conservative leader yesterday said average Canadians have no sympathy for “rich” artists who gather at galas to whine about their grants.

“I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala of a bunch of people at, you know, a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up – I’m not sure that’s something that resonates with ordinary people,” Harper said in Saskatoon, where he was campaigning for the Oct. 14 election.

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion and NDP Leader Jack Layton accused their Conservative rival of treating arts and culture with contempt.

Dion said the Conservatives are ideologically attacking the arts.

Layton meanwhile predicted Harper would sell off the CBC and undermine Canadian culture if the Conservatives win a majority government.

But Harper shrugged off his opponents as elitists preoccupied by “a niche issue.”

He said he has increased the overall budget at the Department of Canadian Heritage by 8 per cent, but had to trim some arts funding. “Ordinary people understand we have to live within a budget,” he said.

Layton said Harper’s comments were “bizarre” and showed how out of touch he is with art and artists, most of whom earn very little.

“If what he thinks is that arts and culture is about receptions, maybe he’s been going to too many receptions,” the NDP leader said in Drummondville, Que.

Dion was even more pointed.

“We need to stop this man. He wants to pit everyone against everyone, Canadians against their artists,” the Liberal leader said at a North Vancouver film studio.

Rejecting Harper’s suggestion artists are privileged, Dion said their average wage is $23,000 a year.

“Most of them need to rent their suit and beautiful dresses at these galas,” he said. “We have a great arts and culture industry. We need to protect its freedom. This man wants to censor our movies.”

That was a reference to controversial Tory-backed legislation to give the heritage minister power to withdraw tax incentives – vital for productions – from films deemed objectionable.

Dion said that proves Conservatives are the party of censorship while Liberals are the party of fun.

He showed a flash of humour after a sound stage tour of a TV production tentatively titled, Harper’s Island, a comedy/horror show being produced for CBS Paramount.

“I’m told that it’s a scary movie. Mr. Harper lives on an island and it’s time to kick him off the island,” Dion quipped.

Earlier yesterday in Quebec City, Layton pledged to reinstate Harper’s $45 million in arts program cuts as part of a cultural cash infusion of $125 million a year.

He said an NDP government would allow income-averaging for artists so they could spread often irregular earnings over several years.

In contrast, he predicted a Conservative majority government would privatize the CBC.

In a play on the Conservative Party’s French name, an electronic NDP ad running in Montreal’s subway system shows a “Conservateur” logo evolving into “Conserva-tueur de la culture,” or “culture killer.”

Harper complained the ad “shows the extreme side of the NDP,” but Layton said Tory cuts deserve “strong language.”

Last night, the NDP leader attended a Montreal concert held to protest the Tories’ cultural cutbacks. Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe was also on hand to see performances by prominent Quebec artists, including singer-songwriters Michel Rivard and Ariane Moffatt, and folk group Mes Aïeux.

Layton and Duceppe shook hands but then sat two tables away from one another on a VIP balcony. Liberal incumbent Denis Coderre was seated one row behind, lending the star-studded event an almost all-party affair. The Conservatives were not officially represented.

[To read comments on this article, go to the original]

Updated Tue. Sep. 23 2008 7:13 PM ET

CTV.ca News

Liberal candidate Justin Trudeau says the $45 million in cuts from the federal arts budget shows Conservative Leader Stephen Harper doesn’t “get” Canadians.

“Canadian identity is built around its creativity, its imagination, its vision. Our artists drive us forward,” Trudeau told CTV’s Mike Duffy Live on Tuesday.

“This is yet another example that the fact that Mr. Harper simply does not understand Canadians and does not trust Canadians in the choices they make.”

Harper dismissed mounting criticism of the cuts by calling it a “niche” issue that doesn’t resonate with “ordinary” Canadians.

In his strongest statements to date over the cuts, Harper said regular Canadians see a “bunch of people, you know, at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up.”

Trudeau says the arts are an $85-billion industry in Canada that directly employs one million people and the average salary is $23,000 a year.

“Hardly the kind of millionaires he likes to conjure to get people to react the way he wants to,” said Trudeau. “He’s all about the politics of division, the politics of pettiness. The Liberal Party of Canada, and I’m glad to say the other parties in Canada, will not stand for that kind of divisive discourse.”

Harper was responding to increased pressure from arts groups and political foes over pulling funding for programs like PromArt and Trade Routes, which helped promote Canadian art internationally.

Harper said that with dimming economic prospects, Canadians have to be realistic about such government-funded programs.

“Ordinary people know you have to live within a budget,” said Harper, who made the comments while announcing law and order measures in Saskatoon.

Harper also dismissed an aggressive NDP advertising onslaught in vote-rich Quebec, which likens the Conservatives to “culture killers,” as extreme.

“It just shows the extreme side of the NDP – a side of the NDP that has no serious economic program for the country,” he said.

NDP would restore funding

Earlier Tuesday, NDP Leader Jack Layton cast himself as the saviour of Canadian culture during a stop in Quebec City, where he pledged to protect artists and restore the cutbacks.

Layton also attacked Harper for slashing arts money while providing tax breaks for big business.

“Mr. Harper says that protecting artists and funding the arts is a waste of taxpayers’ money,” Layton told reporters.

“We say the arts are at the core of the economy.”

NDP would restore arts funding, says Layton

Layton added that if he were elected prime minister, he would reverse the Tories’ cutbacks, provide tax breaks for artists and impose regulations that would give Canadian productions prime television spots.

“We’ve got to begin that project by protecting and promoting the artists themselves – the people who actually create the television, the film, the performance, the visual art,” he said.

When asked if the NDP had calculated the total cost of their arts package, Layton said the plan totalled about $150 million.

He added that a cornerstone of his plan includes an income-averaging model for artists based on Quebec’s taxing system, and he praised Quebec’s artists who “have kept the flame of French culture strong, in this city, in this province and right across Canada for four centuries.”

Layton warned that Conservative policies could “throw our artists out of work” and lead to an onslaught of non-Canadian programming in film and television that would “deny us to our own stories as a country.”

Both the NDP and the Conservatives have made major recent gains among Quebecers at the expense of the Bloc Quebecois and the Liberals, and observers say the province is a key battleground that could deliver Harper his first majority government.

In the last week, the subject of arts funding has become a hot issue in Quebec’s urban areas and Quebec artists, like Michel Rivard of the band Beau Dommage, have been among the most vocal in the country about the funding decreases.

Rivard, along with other Quebec artists, recently launched a YouTube video which lampoons the Conservatives’ approach to arts as bureaucratic and heavy handed.

The video, entitled “Culture en Peril” (Culture in Danger), has garnered tens of thousands of plays since its debut last week.

On Tuesday evening, Layton is scheduled to join Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe a Montreal nightclub to protest Stephen Harper’s handling of Canadian arts and culture.

[[To see the comments, go to the original story.]

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Stephen Harper cast his lot Tuesday with
“ordinary, working people” and not with a cultural elite he
characterized as government-subsidized whiners.

On a day when Conservative cuts to certain arts and culture programs
took centre stage on the campaign trail, Harper made an unapologetic
appeal to working-class Canadians.

“I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see
a gala of a bunch of people, you know, at a rich gala all subsidized by
taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough when they know
those subsidies have actually gone up – I’m not sure that’s something
that resonates with ordinary people,” Harper said during a campaign stop
in Saskatoon.

While some arts programs have been cut, Harper noted the overall budget
of Canadian Heritage has climbed eight per cent.

Every group can’t get everything it wants, he added. “Ordinary people
understand we have to live within a budget.”

Harper’s comments came as both Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and NDP
Leader Jack Layton highlighted some $45 million in Tory cuts to programs
that help Canadian musicians, authors, painters, sculptors and poets,
among others.

Layton graphically described Harper as “grabbing hold of the aorta and
putting the squeeze” on Quebec culture. Dion described the Tory cuts as
an ideological broadside on both artists and freedom of expression.

“If Canadians want to replace this ideological attack against arts and
culture, not only the (budget) cuts but the freedom of arts, there is
only one choice and it is the Liberal team.”

A major rally called Les Coupures, Ca Tue la Culture – or Cuts Kill
Culture – was planned for Quebec artists Tuesday evening in Montreal.
Layton and Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe planned to attend.

Harper’s barbed shot at complaining elites attending galas came two
weeks after his government was repeatedly excoriated by speaker after
speaker at the televised French-language Gemini awards.

While the Conservative leader included Quebecers in his English-language
pitch Tuesday – “ordinary Quebecers, like ordinary Canadians, understand
that,” said Harper – he declined to repeat his gala comment in French
after a francophone reporter invited him to do so.

The Conservatives hope to make major inroads in Quebec on Oct. 14 and
see the province as the key to a majority mandate. But the culture cuts
have proved a rallying point for anti-Harper forces in the province.

The NDP in particular is running extremely negative attack ads that
subtly change the “Conservateur” party name to “Conservatueur” – making
it a killer of culture.

Harper dismissed the furor as “a niche issue for some.” He said most
Canadians are more consumed with the country’s economic management.

Pocketbook issues that have been tormenting Canadian consumers in recent
months got a painful push Tuesday as inflation hit its highest level in
more than five years.

Statistics Canada reported the rate of increase in the cost of living
rose in August to 3.5 per cent on an annual basis from 3.4 per cent in
July, fuelled in large part by higher fuel prices.

The major parties have been exchanging fire over who would be the best
custodian of the economy, with the Conservatives accusing the Liberals
of wanting to spend the country back into the red or tax it into
recession.

Harper drove home the point yet again Tuesday, describing a Liberal
platform that he claimed includes “enormous, reckless spending
promises.”

On Monday, Stephane Dion was flanked by prominent members of his caucus
as he unveiled a fully costed party platform the Liberals are hoping
will refute those charges and convince voters they wouldn’t run a
deficit.

“A Liberal government will never put Canada into deficit. Period,” Dion
said. “We will build a richer Canada by cutting taxes for all Canadian
families and businesses, making them more competitive.”

Dion was spent Tuesday selling his platform in British Columbia, while
Harper was in Saskatchewan before heading to Surrey, B.C., for a rally.

Layton was in Quebec, where polls suggest his party is making gains.

Layton announced Tuesday he wants to ensure that prime-time TV shows are
written and produced by Canadians and feature Canadian stars. He’s also
promising to restore the money cut from arts funding by the Tories and
give tax breaks to artists, writers and performers.

Duceppe was scheduled to address business leaders and artists in Quebec
City and Montreal – no doubt also planning to attack the Tories on the
arts and culture flank. Green Leader Elizabeth May is expected to make
stops in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario as she completes the western
leg of her whistle-stop rail tour across Canada.

Updated Mon. Sep. 15 2008 10:34 PM ET

Jered Stuffco, CTV.ca News

While pooping puffins and sweater vests have made headlines during this year’s election campaign, Canada’s arts community says one important issue has been conspicuously absent: arts funding.

So, frustrated with a lack of accountability over $45 million in recent arts cuts and a low profile for the arts so far in the campaign, theatre organizer Keith Barker decided to do something.

Last week, the veteran Toronto actor started a Facebook group asking for people “who believe in arts” to leave their photos blank.

“Within 48 hours, we had 2,000 members,” said Barker in a telephone interview with CTV.ca, adding he wants to “mobilize people” and make arts funding an election issue.

If all the world’s a stage, then Facebook is a perfect platform for the protest. As of Monday afternoon, more than 9,000 people had joined up and photos were vanishing from profiles across the country.

“I think it just gets people talking about arts and culture,” said Barker, who also works with Toronto’s Native Earth theatre group.

“It’s one of the things that needs to be spoken about during the election. Where do the leaders stand on funding arts and culture?”

While he concedes that a silent Facebook protest isn’t exactly an incendiary statement, Barker notes that it’s a simple, fast and easy way for regular Canadians to voice their concerns.

Meanwhile, Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has defended the recent arts cuts, which were made to programs like PromArt and Trade Routes, and said the marketplace should take a greater role in deciding what is produced and promoted.

In an interview with The Globe and Mail last week, Harper added that net spending under his government has actually increased.

Shortly after the cuts were announced, Liberal Leader Stephane Dion vowed to restore the funding if he were elected prime minister.

Dion added that the cuts were part of an “ideological vendetta” on the part of the Conservatives.

Feeling the sting

John Van Burek, founder and artistic director with Toronto’s Pleiades Theatre, said some of his colleagues are already feeling the sting.

“There are some theatre companies that were planning to go abroad to tour, and the funding was cut,” he said in a telephone interview.

“For something like this to happen, it’s inevitable that some people are going to be left short,” he said.

Van Burek, who has worked in theatre since 1971, said culture is this country’s calling card.

According to Naomi Campbell, a producer with Toronto’s Nightswimming theatre group, the cuts to Canadian arts programs like PromArt and Trade Routes are already hurting Canadian theatre tours abroad.

She pointed to the planned Rwandan staging of the play “Goodness,” which explores genocide in an unnamed country, as a prime victim.

The celebrated play, based on Canadian author Michael Redhill’s book, has been shown around the world and recently won top honours at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

But a possible performance planned for Rwanda next year, which would commemorate 15 years since the country’s brutal genocide, will likely be scrapped because of cuts, said Campbell.

“They would clearly need some government support” to take the play to Rwanda, she said.

“Given the relationship we have with Rwanda, through people like Gen. Romeo Dallaire, to have the opportunity to take part in a commemoration like that would have been a huge honour.”