Thank you very much for coming today. I'm very glad to hear Monsieur Péan acknowledge that our government has done a number of very positive things for arts and culture, and probably more positive than artists have ever seen in previous governments.
I want to take a moment to address the collaborative opinion of all of you that the Canada Council for the Arts should be responsible for perhaps allocating some of these finances. I want to tell you that the Canada Council for the Arts has received an increase of 17% over two years from our government. In fact, Joseph Rotman, who is the chair of CCA, in Le Devoir last December said exactly this: proof exists that the federal government supports the arts through its funding to the Canada Council.
So I just want to go through a couple of facts about the Canada Council for the Arts. In the 2007-08 period, $182.5 million has gone to CCA. Out of that, Quebec received $51.7 million in funding, which represents 31.4% of total funding. Of that, because I know--
when you talk about writers, Mr. Péan,
writing and publishing, out of the travel grants to professional writers, they received $117, 379. I can go through a number of places where we are investing in international travel.
I'll do that right now. Dance: international co-production for dance, $277,500. Inter-arts program: travel grants to professional artists, $78,000. I'll go to some larger numbers. Music: music touring grants, $1,472,615; music travel grants to professional musicians, $162,977. It goes on and on. Theatre: theatre touring and special incentive program, $1,093,000. Again theatre, travel assistance for theatre, artistic directors, presenters and administrators, $75,900. Theatre: theatre international programs, $1,017,000.
There are a number of others. The total funding for travel assistance, I have to say for the people in the room who were here with the previous witnesses, is $9.5 million from CCA and not what we heard from a previous witness earlier when he presented a chart that was, as he said, conservative. His numbers added up to just under $3 million, and I'm telling you it's $9.5 million from CCA.
So I want to thank you for acknowledging our government's commitment to arts and culture, and I want to thank you for coming here today. I wish you all the success in the future.