Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to begin by saying that this is the perfect committee to deal with the issue of the artist. And by artist, actually I think we mean artist writ large, the creative person, and not just the guy who paints. That is how actually people in the cultural community refer to themselves, as artists.
This is not about poverty. This is not about giving special status to artists.
If the heritage committee cannot speak to the value of the artist to our society, both socially and economically, then this committee is not doing its job. I would ask some of the members this summer to read books called The Rise of the Creative Class and The Flight of the Creative Class by Richard Florida. Look at works by Jane Jacobs. Read what the 21st century economists are saying about artists.
The 21st century is a century of innovation, creativity, and technology. They have all actually come full circle and are now part of what is going to create productivity and competitiveness.
In this society we need to look at how the work of the artist is appropriately valued. We're talking here about value for work done--not about poverty, not for giving handouts. Artists are not asking for handouts.
In countries like Ireland.... I would like to give you this example, Mr. Chair. As you well know, the greatest export of Ireland, where I lived for nine years, has always been its people. Everybody left Ireland. When Ireland decided to join or wished to join the European Common Market and the European Union, they were given the sort of equivalent of what we would fondly call transfer payments here. They had to take that and create a ten-year plan for themselves so they could pull their own weight within the community.
Therefore they spent every penny they were given on two things. Both of those things had to do with what the capital of the 21st century is, and it is human capital and creative capital. It is the creators and innovators and the people with intellectual property that they bring that are creating competitive 21st century nations.
What Ireland did was spend all of the money they were given on a ten-year plan for education, training, and skills for all of their citizens and for developing the creative capital of their country. Ireland moved from being a country everyone left to a country everyone is making a beeline to. They now have a minister of immigration.
Ireland has become one of the top five most competitive nations in the world, with four million people, and within the space of ten years.
What we're talking about here is looking at the new economies, looking at the global competitiveness of Canada, recognizing that this is the era of creativity and innovation and to value our artists and to recognize the work they do, not by giving them handouts, Mr. Chair, but by recognizing the nature of their work, the type of work they do, and by ensuring that we do not contribute to the flight of the creative class to places that value them. We will have lost our creative and innovative edge if we do so.
Countries that are at the top of the heap in the 21st century are maintaining their creative class, nurturing them, fostering them, and finding ways to value the work they do. And if I may put words in Madam Mourani's mouth, I think that is what she is talking about.
This committee has to understand that artists and culture are not just about social cohesion and about the identity of a nation. This is about being productive and competitive in a 21st century economy.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
