I want to extend my very sincere thanks to all of you for appearing today to comment on cuts to the programs we are currently reviewing.
My question is addressed to all of you, but particularly to Mr. Péan, because I really have no choice but to choose one of you.
All the witnesses who have appeared before the committee, without exception, have used the terms, in one form or the other, “irresponsible”, “illogical”, “incomprehensible” and “ideological”. No one has clearly explained why these programs have been cut. The witnesses all said that in the short, medium and long terms, this decision would jeopardize many different sectors of our cultural industries. They all talked about cuts that were not based on studies and of which they had not been informed. Indeed, no one was consulted on this. Similarly, committee members have never seen such studies.
When you consider the amounts of money that are at stake—$2, $3, $5 or $6 million—it is clear that we are talking about peanuts. We are meeting here to talk about peanuts. Government budgets are in the billions of dollars—not millions. In English, there is a lovely proverb that goes: “penny wise, dollar foolish”.
Mr. Péan, do you not have the sense that we are considerably more penny wise than dollar foolish?