THE CCA’s POST-ELECTION ANALYSIS

Ottawa , June 29th, 2004 — Prov­ing polit­i­cal poll­sters and pun­dits wrong — Canada now has a minor­ity Lib­eral gov­ern­ment.   What does this mean for the cul­tural sector?

The Lib­eral Party has proved in the past to have a fair under­stand­ing of how the cul­tural sec­tor works, and the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Her­itage has devel­oped a set of pro­grammes to sup­port the basic finan­cial needs of the sec­tor and the cul­tural needs of Cana­di­ans.   With a minor­ity gov­ern­ment, the Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts looks to the NDP and the Bloc Québé­cois to hold the Lib­er­als’ feet to the fire on issues relat­ing to artists and the cul­tural sector.

The CCA calls on the new Lib­eral gov­ern­ment, under Prime Min­is­ter Paul Mar­tin, to

•  Appoint a Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage with knowl­edge of, and expe­ri­ence in, the arts and cul­tural sector.

•  Renew the fund­ing enve­lope for the Depart­ment of Cana­dian Her­itage, orig­i­nally called “Tomor­row Starts Today”, for a 5 year period, and ensure this money becomes a per­ma­nent part of the Department’s ongo­ing bud­get.   This renewal needs to hap­pen as soon as pos­si­ble if Canada ‘s arts, cul­tural, and her­itage orga­ni­za­tions and events are to sur­vive and thrive!

•  Atten­tion needs to be paid imme­di­ately to the ques­tion of main­tain­ing for­eign own­er­ship restric­tions in our cul­tural indus­tries.   With the Stand­ing Com­mit­tees of Cana­dian Her­itage and Indus­try at log­ger­heads over the ques­tion, a res­o­lu­tion is essen­tial.   Cul­tural orga­ni­za­tions and artists across Canada have been vocal on this issue: Canada is not for sale!

•  Exam­ine the Liberal’s stand with regard to Bill C-12 and free­dom of expres­sion. Despite the furore over child pornog­ra­phy dur­ing the last few weeks of the fed­eral elec­tion cam­paign, cooler heads should pre­vail.   Many recent edi­to­ri­als (National Post, Globe and M ail, Toronto Star) clearly demon­strated there is absolutely no link between child pornog­ra­phy and the legal defence of “ artis­tic merit ” , and it is shame­ful and dam­ag­ing to the cul­tural sec­tor to sug­gest there is.   The Bill must not be returned to the House unless and until the clause pro­mot­ing “pub­lic good” is amended to pro­tect Canada ‘s young per­sons from actual harm and exploita­tion with­out infring­ing on the free­dom to create.

•  Con­tinue the government’s move towards insti­tut­ing a con­ven­tion to exclude cul­ture from all inter­na­tional trade treaties.   This was expressed as a goal for the Lib­er­als in the last Speech from the Throne and CCA looks to the new gov­ern­ment to keep this promise.

NEW FACES AND OLD

Sev­eral famil­iar faces will be back in Ottawa , as well as a few new ones.   Still, oth­ers will not be return­ing to the House of Com­mons this fall.   Some of those com­ing to Par­lia­ment who have a par­tic­u­lar inter­est in, and knowl­edge of, the arts and cul­tural sec­tor include the fol­low­ing, listed here geo­graph­i­cally from East to West::

Elected

Scott Simms (Avalon, NL – Lib)

• Broad­caster, jour­nal­ist, inter­est in drama

Loy­ola Hearn ( St John’s South, NL – Con)

• For­mer cul­ture critic for the Pro­gres­sive Con­ser­v­a­tive Party

Andy Scott ( Fred­er­ic­ton , NB – Lib)

• Strong arts and cul­ture supporter

Liza Frulla (Jeanne Le Ber, QC – Lib)

• For­mer provin­cial Min­is­ter of Cul­ture in Québec

Fran­cis Scarpa­leg­gia (Lac-Saint-Jean, QC – Lib)

• Pre­vi­ously Exec­u­tive Assis­tant to Clif­ford Lin­coln, long time chair of the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Cana­dian Heritage

Car­o­line St-Hilaire (Longueuil, QC – BQ)

• Pre­vi­ously cul­ture critic for the Bloc Québécois

Mar­lene Jen­nings (Notre-Dame-de-Grace-Lachine, QC – Lib)

• Has an inter­est in the diver­sity treaty and trav­elled with for­mer Min­is­ter Sheila Copps to meet­ings of the Inter­na­tional Net­work on Cul­tural Pol­icy (the min­is­te­r­ial coun­ter­part of the Inter­na­tional Net­work for Cul­tural Diversity)

Chris­tiane Gagnon (Que­bec, QC – BQ)

• Bloc Québé­cois cul­ture critic prior to the election

John God­frey (Don Val­ley West, ON – Lib)

Arts sup­porter, Paul Martin’s par­lia­men­tary sec­re­tary for cities/communities in the last session

Peter Mil­liken ( Kingston and the Islands , ON – Lib)

• Strong arts and cul­ture supporter

Ed Broad­bent ( Ottawa Cen­tre, ON – NDP)

• Out­spo­ken arts sup­porter in his community

Mau­ril Bélanger (Ottawa-Vanier, ON – Lib)

• For­mer par­lia­men­tary sec­re­tary to Sheila Copps as Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Heritage

Sam Bulte ( Parkdale-High Park , ON – Lib)

• For­mer par­lia­men­tary sec­re­tary to Sheila Copps as Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage, active on trade and cul­ture issues, and a strong arts and cul­ture supporter

Bill Gra­ham ( Toronto Cen­tre, ON – Lib)

• Arts sup­porter in a rid­ing chock full of arts activity

Jack Lay­ton ( Toronto-Danforth , ON – NDP)

• For­mer Chair of the Fed­er­a­tion of Cana­dian Munic­i­pal­i­ties, advo­cate against for­eign own­er­ship in our cul­tural industries

Mau­r­izio Bevilac­qua ( Vaughan , ON – Lib)

• As a for­mer chair of the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance, demon­strated sup­port for arts and culture

Ken Dry­den ( York Cen­tre, ON – Lib)

• Author, and edu­ca­tion advocate

Judy Wasylycia-Leis ( Win­nipeg North, MB – NDP)

As a mem­ber of the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance, demon­strated strong sup­port for arts and culture

Ralph Goodale ( Was­cana , SK – Lib)

• As for­mer Min­is­ter of Finance, was sym­pa­thetic to a num­ber of cul­tural issues

Rahim J af fer ( Edmonton-Strathcona , AB – Con)

• As a mem­ber of the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance, was sym­pa­thetic to a num­ber of cul­tural issues

Jim Abbott ( Kootenay-Columbia , BC – Con)

• Con­ser­v­a­tive cul­ture critic before the elec­tion; for­mer cul­ture critic for the Cana­dian Alliance party, and prior to that, for the Reform party

Libby Davies (Van­cou­ver East, BC – NDP)

Out­spo­ken arts and cul­ture sup­porter in her community

Not elected

Hélène Chal­i­four Scher­rer (Louis-Hébert, QC – Lib)

• Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage in the pre­vi­ous par­lia­men­tary session

Olivia Chow ( Trinity-Spadina , ON – NDP)

• A strong advo­cate for arts and cul­ture as City of Toronto Councillor

Glen Mur­ray (Charleswood-St James , MB – Lib)

• A strong advo­cate for arts and cul­ture as Mayor of Winnipeg

Dick Proc­tor (Pal­liser, SK – NDP)

• Was sym­pa­thetic to a num­ber of cul­tural issues, includ­ing free­dom of expression

Lorne Nys­trom (Regina-Qu’Appelle, SK – NDP)

• Was sym­pa­thetic to a num­ber of cul­tural issues, includ­ing free­dom of expression

Ian Wad­dell ( Van­cou­ver Kingsway, BC – NDP)

a for­mer provin­cial Min­is­ter of Cul­ture in British Colum­bia