The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Prominent arts lobbyists have been making great efforts to paint the picture of a Conservative government having Ôgutted the artsÕ. Many sing from the same plaintive song-sheet suggesting that the Canadian artistic community is suffering and starved for funds. Like many interest groups seeking more money, they play the same broken record trying to evoke images of starving artists and a heartless government. The facts, however, paint a different picture. Arts spending has grown importantly during HarperÕs term as Prime Minister. As well, international comparisons reveal Canada is a leader in arts spending. This spending raises a broader question as to what is the most effective method for government to support the arts Ð more direct government subsidies or a tax system that supports personal choice and higher charitable giving. The Harper government has commendably announced a handful of reductions to some funding programs. They include $13.7 million for the PromArt and Trade Routes programs, which promoted and supported Canadian artists exhibiting and performing outside of Canada; $1.5 million for Canadian Independent Film and Video; and $2.5 million for the National Training Program in the Film and Video Sector. Axing these programs ends questionable spending like taxpayers paying for British anti-war activist Gwnne Dyer to go to Cuba and for CBC activist Avi Lewis to attend a film festival in Australia. These and other rumoured reductions amount to $44 million. Even with these reductions, federal spending on the arts has risen almost as fast as overall program spending. Arts funding has grown at the federal level since 2005 by 10 per cent while overall program spending has grown by 15 per cent. The federal Public Accounts show that the only arts institution to see a reduction in subsidies was Telefilm Canada while all others grew. The arts community, when faced with such facts, often trot out an appeal to comparisons with Europe and its support for the arts. Yet, here again a 2005 study by the Canada Council for the Arts reveals that per capita government funding for the arts in Canada exceeded that of France by 30 per cent and outstripped Germany by 40 per cent. Given that arts funding in Canada has risen and not declined, it is difficult to view arts lobbyistsÕ complaints as anything more than hostile partisan attacks and another special interest group with their hand out.
