Don't take crap over culture
Talk about a clash of cultures.
On one side, you have arts groups and opposition parties warning reduced government funding threatens the very survival of Canadian culture.
On the other, Prime Minister Stephen Harper dismisses artful attempts to paint the Conservatives as a party ideologically opposed to culture.
"Ordinary people understand we have to live within a budget," he said, calling the furor over arts funding "a fringe issue."
When it comes to whether I pay my taxes, property & income, to keep a roof over my head, to buy food, to put gas in the car to get to work, etc. I find I am hard pressed to find money to go those "cultural events" that appeal to me.
The Liberals accuse the Tories of making $45 million in cuts over the summer to programs directly geared to supporting the arts, while conveniently ignoring the chops to the CBC, Canada Council and Canadian Heritage made during their own reign.
A rally protesting Tory arts funding was planned last night in Quebec.
NDP Leader Jack Layton accused Harper of "grabbing hold of the aorta and putting the squeeze" on Quebec culture.
To hear him talk, you'd think the arts in La Belle Province were in cardiac arrest, when in reality the scene there puts the rest of Canada to shame.
That's because Quebec consumers support their artistic industries and not necessarily as the result of massive injections of government grants.
It would be nice if the same could be said about English Canada.
No one should underestimate the richness and texture arts and culture add to our lives in Canada.
But there's troubling evidence too many of the beneficiaries of Canada's cultural cash cow are mostly gifted in the art of extricating government funds. These are the people screaming loudest.
Too many middlemen and hangers-on are more focused on getting grants than creating "art" that can be enjoyed and appreciated by the multitudes.
Ordinary Canadians are aware of this and are voting en masse with their wallets and channel changers.
Rather than feeding more dollars into this morass of mediocrity, it's time for a radical overhaul that will see more of the money go to the gifted artists -- performers, writers, musicians and filmmakers -- who actually craft our culture.
Where arts thou?
What's all this fuss about the arts?
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