Canwest News led the, ahem, way last week on federal government cuts to arts groups. First, we reported that the government deep-sixed the PromArt program, a grant program run by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade that helped cover the travel costs of Canadian artists and cultural groups to spread a little bit of Canada on to foreign shores. The next day, we reported that the government said sayonara to a program called Trade Routes run by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a program which gave artists market research and other assistance to become cultural exporters.
The Post's Kelly McParland says:
It’s possible that Ottawa is just as petty as its critics claim, and is using [former CBC broadcaster Avi] Lewis [who received PromArt funding] and the other cases to mask its retreat from funding culture and the arts. It’s also entirely possible the Tories are justifiably disgusted by the way tax money is regularly wasted on people who don’t need it or deserve it. ….
The problem is all in the collateral damage. There are plenty of worthy operations that can use federal grants to enhance and promote Canadian culture abroad. It’s a huge industry and the best of it is worth supporting. Unfortunately, the best of it too often gets sideswiped by freeloaders and the undeserving. If there’s money, they will come.
Also at the Post's site, Duncan McKie, who represents Canada's independent recording artists, is bitterly disappointed with the cuts:
For the Canadian music industry particularly, these cuts cannot come at a worse time….
… the recipients of these grants, be they Inuit carvers or Toronto rockers are being demonized for applying to, and receiving support, from a program developed, sanctioned and administered by the Government of Canada. There was nothing underhanded or surreptitious in this. If the program was ill-conceived or poorly run, why not say so? Obviously it is easier to ridicule the recipients, rather than discuss the real issues.
The Post's editorial board heartily approves . . .
If Canadian artists produce world-class art, then it will be noticed on the world stage — with or without government assistance. Moreover, the Tories are not telling artists to stop producing their movies, paintings, alternative rock or books. Rather, they are simply telling them to stop financing their international junkets from the wallets of overburdened taxpayers.
The Globe and Mail's New York-based arts reporter Simon Houpt does not:
…the vast majority of the funds sent abroad artists and companies that Stephen Harper would enjoy with his wife and kids: $8,000 to send Newfoundland's Duo Concertante dance company to China; $30,000 for the acclaimed experimental circus troupe Les 7 doigts de la main to give 42 performances in Mexico and Germany; $15,000 to The Nickle Arts Museum of Alberta to present an exhibition for six months in Poland.
…It's hard to overstate how low a profile Canada has abroad. If that's the way the government wants it, that's their decision. But if we want our voice to have influence in the rest of the world, to be the moral beacon we believe it is, that requires marketing Brand Canada. Sending artists and writers abroad is an integral part of that marketing that happens to be extremely cost-effective.
And then of course there was this entertaining revelation by Gwynne Dyer that he was actually asked by Foreign Affairs to attend that conference in Cuba, and that he had never even heard of, much less applied to, PromArt.
What really infuriates me about all this is how the film and television industry is going to be impacted (and yes, I have a personal stake in this). Because those programs didn't just pay travel expenses for filmmakers and producers to take Canadian product abroad – they paid to have foreign buyers brought here, to our film and television festivals.
Conservatives are supposed to be pro-business. This is business. It's a $5 billion industry, and given that that industry, particularly in Toronto, is at death's door right now, you'd think that the federal government would be doing everything it could to help instead of… oh, never mind.
I guess some industries are more equal than others.
Well, what really infuriates me is the expectation that the Government (at any level Fed/Prov/Mun.) should subsidize every little nook and cranny of the country's business, particularly those who are struggling to start.
I have no problem with the Government expecting some kind of return on the investment other than some obscure sense of fuzzy-huggy-goodness for being a patron of . That's not to say that there isn't room for that, in moderation, but let's be realistic. If every “artist” and their dog applies for grants, the pot will soon be empty and those who need or are “more worthy” won't get what they need.
I also have no problem with the Government “trimming the fat” off of previous Government's largesse, even though such largesse has become an expectation to be the norm. My tax dollars go to a budget, and when the necessities are starting to get crowded by luxury spending, it's time for cuts and time to get back to basics.
The Government's role in business is to create the environment where business can thrive. It is not the Government's role to subsidize a business thrive in any kind of environment. If a major player is in some kind of trouble, the kind of trouble that could effect the economy of a region or the whole country, then the Goverment may step in to assist, but that assistance shouldn't become a crutch to the industry.