CCA
BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
QUESTIONS
OF CULTURE
Ottawa
, June
14, 2004 – Now that all the parties
have issued their official platforms, and given the horse race that is unfolding,
there is a palpable feeling of foreboding among Canadians who support the arts.
Having learned that there are no questions on the arts, culture or heritage
in the leaders' debate, CCA
has set out some questions of its own.
Three
sets of questions for the Liberals
- Why not
stand proudly on the reasonable track record of support, and the cultural
policies you have put in place, over the past several years? Support
for the arts is widely recognized as making sound economic sense and contributing
to the growth and cohesion of communities, so why not trumpet what you've
achieved? Communicating directly with Liberal party officials, CCA
has learned it is their intention to,
at a minimum, maintain all funding now in place. Were the Prime Minister
to speak clearly of his commitment to the arts, heritage and cultural industries,
wouldn't his position in the run-up to the election improve?
- Although
there is mention of the Liberal's support for the Cultural Diversity treaty
being developed by UNESCO, it fails to mention whether they will be upholding
restrictions on foreign ownership of the broadcasting industry, currently
threatened by a report from the Industry Committee. When Ipsos-Reid is reporting
that 85% of Canadians favour maintaining ownership and control of our broadcast
industries, why have the Liberals gone silent instead of articulating their
support for this significant public policy measure?
- In response
to a well-reasoned push on the part of the major arts organizations (Shaw,
Stratford ,
the Canadian Opera Company, etc) the Liberal platform proposes additional,
and badly-needed, funds that would flow through the Canada Council. Why not
also address the more fundamental problem of chronic under funding for the
Canada Council by increasing its budget from$153 million to $300 million?
Conservatively
Questioning
A spokesperson
for the Conservative Party stated that "no mention in the platform indicates
status quo for a first Conservative mandate".
- Since
the arts was not mentioned, is it s af
e to assume status quo when there is a
plan to review all government funding programs?
- There
is no mention of the Conservatives' intention to support Canadian ownership
of broadcasting, but there is mention of reviewing the relevance of the CRTC.
In fact the party candidates' handbook supports restructuring and reducing
the CRTC. The result of such an exercise would certainly adversely
af fect
the production and distribution of Canadian content. Do the Conservatives
have any interest in supporting Cancon?
- On one point the platform was extremely explicit,
that the artistic merit defence would be completely removed from Bill C-12
(Act to amend the Criminal Code for the protection of children and other vulnerable
persons and the Canada Evidence Act). How can the Conservatives expect
us to make sense of a platform that supports more freedom for religious organizations
to speak while threatening to remove the hard won rights of artists
under the same Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
On
Friday June 11 CCA
issued a bulletin quoting further statements from the Conservatives (28/04:
CCA Gets
to Know its Neighbours, the Conservative Party of Canada) in response to specific
questions.
NDP: Does
"No one left behind" include artists?
In
questioning the NDP one wonders why there is not more detail in the platform
of a party that has been so supportive of the arts in the past. The NDP
continues to show support - for example, it stood alone with the Bloc at a gathering
of arts and media labour groups that met on Parliament Hill last winter to defend
Canadian ownership of the broadcast industry under the slogan Our Canada is
Not for Sale .
However, questions remain.
- Having supported tax measures to ensure that
artists and other workers can earn a respectable living, why did the platform
shy away from building on an NDP private members' motion to exempt artists
from paying tax on a percentage of their copyright and artistic income?
- The NDP
has worked hard to preserve the artistic merit defence which was under attack
in Bill C-12 and can be expected to maintain that position going into a new
government. (As an example of support, the NDP organized a reading session
on Parliament Hill for Freedom to Read Week this past February.) Why
not cite this significant defence of charter rights in the platform?
A chip
at the Bloc
The
Bloc leads all parties in its articulation of sensible cultural policy measures
and its support of the arts. However this support is limited to cultural
issues in "La belle province" and the Bloc cannot always be counted
on to support measures that benefit artists in the rest of Canada
.
- Is it
so hard to acknowledge that culture lives in provinces beyond the confines
of Quebec ?
Nearly one
out of ten Canadians works in the arts and cultural industries sector, meaning
that all of these people, and their friends and relations, are vitally interested
in how the leaders would respond to these questions. So why is culture
ignored in the media and in the leaders' debate?
For more
information:
Kevin
Desjardins
Communications
and Public Relations Manager
(613)
238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613)
238 4849
info@ccarts.ca
www.ccarts.ca
29/04
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