Thank you, Mr. Chair.
That was a really interesting diatribe--unfortunately, not based whatsoever on fact. However, I would like to cover some of the facts.
I think it's important that this committee understand the difference between a cut and a reallocation. In the 1990s we saw cuts, and I'll outline the cuts. I invite Mr. Coderre to go to canadiantheatre.com, where you can pull up their section on funding. I'll just read what it says. It talks about what a cut is.
It says: “In 1992 a report was presented by the Standing Committee on Communications and Culture which stated that, 'funding in the cultural sector had failed to keep pace with inflation.' Expenditures were actually increasing within the system, but real money was decreasing.” But it says: “In the 1995 budget”--a Liberal budget--“all bets were off. Arts funding was cut across the board: cultural infrastructure programs (-44%), multiculturalism projects (-71%), transfers to provinces for regional cultural development (-40%).” Those are cuts. That's what a cut is.
Now let's look at the record of this government. Spending in budget 2007-08.... I don't know if the Liberals read it; they didn't show up to vote on it. But in budget 2007-08, close to $2.31 billion was invested in Canadian Heritage and arts and culture. That is an increase of 8%. For people who aren't good with math, that's a $200 million increase over the last Liberal budget. That is an increase in spending in Canadian arts and culture. That's an increase in the investment made in Canadian artists. And we are seeing the benefits of that.
Mr. Chair, we can go across the board. We can look at Telefilm Canada, for example. For the film industry, $700 million has been invested into this sector. For Telefilm it is $84 million, and that's headquartered in Quebec. And 55% of that funding is spent in the province of Quebec--significant increases in that. For the National Film Board of Canada, headquartered in Quebec, again we're seeing significant investments made into that, $72 million. There are the tax film credits, $325 million; Canadian Television Fund, $280 million; Canada Council for the Arts, $13 million. That's just in the film industry alone.
We can go through all of this. We're seeing significant investments across the board in arts and culture in Canada. This government believes in the arts. I'm going to be attending the Toronto film festival. We see very significant developments going on there. We see the film industry in Canada blossoming under this government's investment.
This government has made it very clear that we support arts and culture. We have invested more than $200 million more than the last Liberal government--more, Mr. Chair, not less. Any contention made by the opposition that this government is somehow cutting the heart out of arts and culture.... I invite them to look at 1995 and at who cut the heart out of arts and culture in this country. It was never a Conservative government. The Conservative government has only seen fit to invest in the arts and culture in this country. We will continue to do so.
I invite them to look at the independent research conducted by CanWest Global. Just last weekend they released the reports on that. We have increased the funding to arts and culture across the board, and to the CBC--the CBC, from whose budget the Liberal government saw fit in 1995 to remove $400 million, so much money that the president of the CBC resigned. He felt he could no longer maintain the mandate of the CBC because the Liberal government didn't support it.
That's the truth. That's their record. Why we're here today I'm not sure.
Strategic reviews have to occur. Mr. Coderre would apparently keep funding every program in perpetuity. I guess that's the Liberal position--every program that's ever existed they will fund in perpetuity. How's he going to pay for it? His leader has already outlined $62 billion in deficit that he'd spend immediately, a massive new carbon tax. I'd love to know how he's going to fund every single program that's ever existed. If we're not going to reallocate funds to make sure we are making the proper investments in areas where we will get results, where we can support artists, where we can support Canadian arts and culture and move that entire industry forward, continue to expand the Canadian footprint on the global map....
That's what this government is about: getting results, supporting artists, and supporting the Canadian identity. And we're doing a heck of a job, Mr. Chair.
Thank you.