Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to reiterate that every dollar the government spends is competitively lobbied for from every industry in every department the government deals with. I was on the finance committee for three years, and I can tell you there is never a dollar picked up in strategic review or invested that isn't questioned by virtually every group that comes before the committee. It's very common. Government has only so much money to work with, but it has an infinite number of requests. That's where the parties disagree, but we have to deal with the facts when it comes to arts and culture.
Mr. Paré, we have announced $276 million in new funds. That's a 10% increase to the overall department in budget 2009. Of this amount, $100 million is for festivals. You indicated you thought that was all about tourism, with nothing going to the arts, but tourism is such an enormous part of what we're doing. I think when we're talking about international travel and promoting internationally, we should also be trying to draw international visitors here to share Canadian culture and promote Canadian communities and identity.
I'm not sure I understand why the $100 million we're putting into promoting festivals isn't wholeheartedly supported by the arts community here in Canada. Can you share that with me?