I've already gone through half the list. I'm prepared to continue. These decisions were made in the best interest of taxpayers, they absolutely were. I have no doubt there were those who were receiving money under the old Trade Routes program who certainly benefited from this, but the responsibility of the government is to ensure all these dollars are being spent in a way that's beneficial to all Canadians, including artists.
Why in the world would anybody defend a program that cost $5 million to deliver $2 million worth of benefits? That level of exchange is not acceptable. So we took those dollars and reinvested into other arts and cultural programs. This year about $22 million is going to support our artists internationally. I will continue as Minister of Canadian Heritage to work with these groups affected by the changes made in the past to ensure their needs are taken care of in the future. I will certainly do my best to do that, but it is simply not defensible.