Canadian Heritage committee  They don't.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm here to testify that we need to support international touring. The National Ballet of Canada tours across Canada, mostly to the west, but very rarely tours internationally.

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you know that the National Ballet of Canada practically does not tour internationally?

Canadian Heritage committee  As Lorraine was saying, ballet companies are international companies. We have dancers from Quebec, dancers from Canada, dancers from all over the world. And, yes, some dancers come from the National Ballet schools, some come from the Winnipeg schools, some come from Juilliard, some come from the Conservatoire de Paris, and so on.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, we all contribute to the Canadian economy. As a matter of fact, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens is one of the very few ballet companies in the world that has initiated reciprocity agreements with our sister companies. I will give you an example. We saved the presentation of the Les Grands Ballets in Houston during the tour to the U.S.

Canadian Heritage committee  That's despite the demand, but that doesn't make sense either when your product is in demand, particularly in times of recession. It should be logical that you invest in products in Canada, which also gives work to Canadians.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have a number of activities, and the council supports our products and creations, but PromArt was actually the only program at the federal level that supported touring. If we don't have PromArt, then basically we'll get rid of that part of the activity.

Canadian Heritage committee  In fact, nobody called us. You're talking about $25 million to reward excellence for international companies while the whole performing arts sector is in demand outside of Canada for $3 million. I was the Canadian in Cairo trying to raise money, and I had to explain why the Canadian government is not supporting the tour to the Middle East when Shimon Peres and Susan Mubarak will be present at our galas in Tel Aviv and Cairo.

Canadian Heritage committee  Particularly for the large cultural organizations, we plan at least three years ahead of time. We have short-term and long-term concerns, but touring altogether, the short-term concerns are obviously the Middle East right now, where we are confirmed to actually do two performances as part of the centennial celebrations in Tel Aviv.

Canadian Heritage committee  When we're trying to bring key presenters, international presenters to come to buy the company, every single dollar matters. In fact the original request was for much more than $8,000. If my memory is correct, the original request was for $25,000. For budgetary matters, it was cut down to $8,000.

Canadian Heritage committee  Particularly now, in times of recession. But you should also know that the private sector is reverting--

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know anything about cars.

Canadian Heritage committee  My point was actually to say that when you have a thriving cultural industry it seems very logical, or even strategic, as I mentioned in my discourse today, to support it. It means we could be even more competitive because we know the product is very strong out there. At the end of the day, how much money are you talking about?

Canadian Heritage committee  I was talking about Paris. Thanks to Trade Routes we were able to bring 40 international presenters to see the company. The contract in the Middle East resulted from negotiations in Paris, even though we started the discussion two years ago. They said the final decision would not be made until they saw the company, and Paris was closer to Israel than Montreal.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, it certainly did. The fact is that I often travel abroad. I am part of Dance/USA and other international organizations. In fact, the Canadian model in terms of financing international touring has been, in most cases, presented as one of the best models. Why? Because somehow it's between the European model, where it's mostly the government supporting our colleagues, and the American model, which is exactly the reverse--private money.