A little earlier, I was pointing out that, for a modest amount of money, these programs facilitate travel by writers—in the case of PromArt—concurrently with other provincial government programs. Publishers assume the financial risks of taking writers abroad, but will now have to find new sources of funding if they wish to continue to do so. Not every part of the industry has succeeded in achieving increased recognition for writers in recent years. However, those that have have done it brilliantly. Are we prepared to sacrifice the future Gil Courtemanches, Yves Beauchemins or Gaétan Soucys? That is the question we must ask ourselves if we are no longer able to ensure international outreach and promotion of writers' work and the writers themselves abroad.
On March 9th, 2009. See this statement in context.