Mr. Speaker, we are having this adjournment debate this evening because on January 29, 2009, I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages a question and his response was not just unsatisfactory; it was very disappointing.
The Conservative budget does not meet the needs of those in the cultural community, yet culture accounts for over 7% of the GDP. Even though artists have been able to demonstrate their past cost-effectiveness, programs to promote culture abroad have not been re-established, to the bitter disappointment of the arts community. Not only are they disappointed, but they are extremely worried about their future at this time.
In the performing arts alone, as a result of the Conservative government's cuts, we can expect 2,000 to be laid off or lose their jobs in a sector that is normally very successful with just a little help from the government. Thousands of tours will be cancelled and organizations will be forced to close.
In January, I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages how he can explain the fact that this budget contains nothing for the promotion of culture abroad.
Nor is there anything to help artists, not one red cent in this budget that will go as direct help to creators, not one cent more for the Canada Council for the Arts.
We were all a bit surprised a few days ago when a spokesperson for the Conservative government told members of the media that the Conservatives “were not buddy-buddy with artists”.
A surprising statement, yes, but surprising mainly because of the frankness of the member for Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles in saying out loud what his colleagues were thinking quietly to themselves, with barely concealed disdain for our artists.
Yet the cultural industry in Quebec represents 314,000 jobs, 171,000 of those direct ones. In Montreal alone, the cultural industry in 2005 generated economic spinoffs of $1.4 billion, and was responsible for a growth rate of 4.7%. That is huge. The culture of Quebec is a kind of formidable business card distributed by such greats as Robert Lepage, Cirque du Soleil or La La La Human Steps.
Last fall, the Stephen Harper government stirred up a storm in Quebec when it announced $45 million in cuts to programs for artists touring abroad. Then, just a few days ago, the Conservatives were again in the spotlight, pulling out of their hat a new program, the Canada prize, with some $25 million in funding for foreign artists who will be performing in Toronto.
Members have repeatedly questioned the Conservative government about its approach to the cultural sector. We have learned that it made unjustified cuts to the touring program. Then the government announced $25 million in funding for a program known as the Canada Prizes, which nobody seems to know anything about. The government tried to distance itself from the project once it realized that it was a boondoggle.
The Conservatives are attacking artists, art and culture for purely ideological reasons. They will regret it because Quebeckers feel that culture is the very soul of our nation.
That is reason enough for Quebec to take control of its own cultural development. It is more important than ever before for the federal government to transfer all culture-related responsibilities and funding to the Government of Quebec. This is critical to our economic survival and to our survival as a people.