Election News

17January06

Culture Club - Arts groups challenge leaders to put culture on the election agenda

Rachel Giese
CBC Arts Online

Those searching for mention of arts and culture issues in this election have had to dig deep. References to the sector are either buried in parties' election platforms, or, in the case of the Tories, were not released until the end of last week. In the recent leaders' debates in Montreal, the candidates were silent on the subject.

"Are we disappointed?" asks Alain Pineau, national director of the Ottawa-based advocacy group Canadian Conference of the Arts . "Yes. Surprised? No. Discouraged? No, not yet. I joke that it's just like what Kim Campbell said during the 1993 election, 'Election time is not the time to talk about serious issues.'"

Click here to read the full article as it appeared on the CBC web site at CBC Arts Online

11January06

Actors urge cultural debate from campaigning politicians

Martin Knelman

CBC Arts Online

Discussion about Canadian culture has been missing from the current election campaign, according to a group of prominent actors who gathered to draw attention to their concerns.

Wendy Crewson, Sonja Smits, Colin Mochrie and R.H. Thomson were among those who assembled in Toronto Wednesday morning to call on the federal political parties to share their cultural platforms with Canadian voters.

"During this federal election campaign, we have heard nothing about cultural issues and we're here today to put culture on the election agenda and to demand action," Crewson said.

Click here to read the full article as it appeared on the CBC web site at CBC Arts Online.

11January06

Leaders' dance chills Kain

Martin Knelman

Toronto Star

Karen Kain, ballet star turned artistic director and crusading fundraiser, sounded a bit like Miss Adelaide from Guys and Dolls when she visited the Star's editorial board yesterday.

It's no wonder someone with a passionate belief in the importance of government funding for culture might feel hoarse and congested the morning after taking in Monday night's telecast of the leaders' debate. As Miss Adelaide would say, a person can develop a cold.

Millions of Canadian voters watched that debate, and not one of them heard the word "arts" mentioned. It wouldn't require a huge leap of logic to conclude that Paul Martin, Stephen Harper, Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe don't think their arts policies are going to be a factor in the Jan. 23 election.

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in The Toronto Star .

04January06

Arts issues on table as election 2006 rolls along

By Lynn McGuigan

Parry Sound North Star

There are many issues being discussed during the current federal election campaign-some are well covered by the media, some get no coverage.

Depending upon what your personal values are, where you work and how you approach life, some of these issues may seem more or less important. As someone who has spent all her working life in the arts, during an election I tend to focus on the issues that affect Canada's arts community.

We have all heard concerns expressed about funding for the arts (pro and con). Did you know that several local arts organizations and several individual artists who live in the area receive grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and from Canadian Heritage?

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in Parry Sound North Star.

29December05

Online file-swapping seen as election issue

By CP

Edmonton Sun

TORONTO -- Gun violence. Canada-U.S. relations. Universal health care. There's no shortage of election issues, and the music industry hopes it can add one more to the list - online file-swapping.

To that end, the Canadian Recording Industry Association enlisted Pollara to canvass voters' opinions on copyright laws related to downloading music.

"Nobody's pretending this is on par with health care or any of the other major issues ... but at some point somebody's got to talk about culture," said the organization's president Graham Henderson. "We have a lawless environment."

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in Edmonton Sun.

24December05

Canada's TV industry looking to 2006 for relief from perennial funding crisis

By John McKay

Macleans

TORONTO (CP) - Everybody agrees that Degrassi: The Next Generation and Corner Gas are breakout TV hits - so why isn't Canada producing more of them?

While there seems to be no shortage of talent - even given the traditional brain drain to Hollywood - the country's financing model for Cancon may be in need of serious repair as the industry looks ahead to 2006.

Producers, broadcasters and cultural patriots say they intend to do their best to make funding for quality homegrown television fare a high-profile issue in the current federal election campaign.

Before Parliament was dissolved, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla doled out millions for various high arts programs, but not a word about the Canadian Television Fund, that public-private sector fount of money for domestic TV budgets.

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in Macleans.

19December05

What about the arts?
By Martin Knelman

Toronto Star

Politically, it may not rank with more mundane matters like fiscal transfers and trade relations with the U.S., but people in Canada's arts community feel our cultural environment is just as important to the country's well-being

At this time of year, thousands enjoy the National Ballet of Canada's production of The Nutcracker, which accounts for a huge part of the company's annual revenue. It's something we take for granted, but unless they can count on dramatically improved funding, the National Ballet and the other jewels in the crown of our cultural environment — the Canadian Opera Company, the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra — will stub their collective toes.

These and other arts groups from coast to coast have been facing an arts-funding crisis for about a decade. But political leaders hardly ever talk about it. This issue is rarely mentioned in TV coverage of the federal election campaign. You won't find it on the front page of your newspaper. And few candidates running for Parliament are making fiery speeches about it.

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in The Toronto Star.

15December05

No tax breaks for the arts? Not very sporting, Mr. Harper
By Nikki Brooks, Jerseyville
The Hamilton Spectator

RE: 'Harper makes a play for parents; $500 tax break for families with kids in sport activities' (Dec. 13)

This plan of Stephen Harper's seems to be yet another political ploy fraught with holes. I welcome the idea of enhancing children's extracurricular time with worthwhile lessons and community involvement.

Certainly, in a society of relatively unfit and inactive kids, sports such as swimming, team games, martial arts, skating and dance lessons are all valid activities and merit encouragement for parents to have their children involved.

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in The Hamilton Spectator.

14 December05

Get arts education and kids on agenda

By Joanne Paulson

The StarPhoenix

You never know what is going on behind the scenes during a federal election, and maybe this has occurred to someone with more power than I.

If not, I strongly suggest that someone should set up a meeting between Pinchas Zukerman and the main party leaders.

Zukerman, the artistic director/conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, is so charismatic, and so passionate, his arguments for teaching kids music are extremely hard to resist.

News that Conservative Leader Stephen Harper wants to provide families with tax credits for kids in sports reminded me of Zukerman's conference call with journalists this fall. Zukerman was providing a conglomerate interview, leading up to the orchestra's visits to Saskatchewan and Alberta.

"Without the arts," he said, "we are basically a jungle."

Click here to read the full article as it appeared in the StarPhoenix.

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