Thank you.
I want to ask about the festival funding. You're probably one of the few members of Parliament who actually has to try to pay bills for traveling the Canadian festival circuit. And, boy, Mr. Minister, as you said, there are some excellent and amazing festivals out there. My concern is how the money rolls out.
We know that two years ago there was an announcement about festival funding, and it was much ballyhooed. In fact, it was the only arts funding announcement I can remember from your predecessor. Then the money didn't flow. Then there was the memo that Conservative ridings should pony up and get theirs out. Then the money still didn't flow. Then the minister said it could be used for all kinds of things, like midnight madness specials and other rather dubious and questionable activities.
This is a lot of money, and as I said, there's no easier way to get a lot of pork-barrel photo ops. How are you going to ensure that the money gets out and gets out fairly? What are the criteria, and who's going to oversee it?