Thank you, Mr. Chair.
At the outset, I'd say I'm disappointed at the tone of these meetings, frankly. The government put substantial support behind the Canada Music Fund, $27.6 million annually and $138 million over five years. It is the most money that has ever gone into this fund. They consulted broadly, both informally and formally, with groups.
Frankly, I want to take some issue with something the Canada Council has in its document, where they say that 15% of artists receive support from the Canada Council, but they don't talk about the music diversity fund. The government does deserve some credit, because the government has dramatically increased the amount of funding to the Canada Council. So to say that 15% of artists who are receiving support from the Canada Council also receive support from FACTOR, I'm actually pretty happy with, because we have extended the total amount of funding for the Canada Council. And you, by virtue of that, are reaching further and helping artists more. But you failed to put that in, and it doesn't deal with the music diversity fund.
This is about the music diversity fund, and the opposition wants to talk about cuts when we have in fact put more money into the program. It's not a cut; it's a reallocation. Specifically, we're talking about putting money.... And Ms. Fry can laugh, because she thinks it's funny.
I actually think it's very important that the government is looking forward. We're looking at the digital transition. We've virtually doubled the amount of money. We've gone from $500,000 to $900,000 for the digital transition. We're looking forward. Music has changed in how it's disseminated, how it's recorded, how it's listened to, how it's purchased, everything. Everything has changed with music.
Ms. Ostertag, you've been around music since 1985. That's a long time. I've been around artists too; I've been around artists who have specifically told me how much FACTOR has assisted them. Can you give me some indication of how this music fund will assist artists, those who are aspiring artists, those who are in specialized music, and those who are aspiring to be in more than specialized music? How will this fund assist them?