I'm dealing with presenters, a person is writing to me. It took ten months for their turnaround. That was one of many. Most of their shows had already been presented and they had to take out loans to cover them off. They said that for them, the situation is inexcusable, that if they had operated their business like this, their doors would have closed long ago.
So they're obviously laying questions about credibility here.
On October 19 I received a message from a U.S. buyer who was supposed to come to Canada to sign up a number of Canadian acts. He said he gave up, that he had been sending the same information again and again, that his role with artists' managers was such that he believed that when things are messed up at the beginning, they are going to continue to be messed up. So he decided not to participate. He said it seemed clear that Heritage doesn't see the benefit of engaging with the buyers.
This was one of apparently a number of U.S. buyers who just walked because they were tired of trying to get through the process.
You have an action plan, but you guys have been doing this for years. What's going on? The credible buyers are walking away from buying Canadian talent because they just can't get through the process.
I'm not seeing here how that's going to be addressed. It seems there is a more fundamental problem.