The federal government does a lot already, and I have to admit that we get a great deal of support from Heritage Canada. We had a renewal this year of the Canada Music Fund, but we also had some cutbacks in areas that I feel were really constructive. In particular, I don't think Canadians feel that sending their artists overseas is a waste of money or some kind of party. I think that's a media-induced illusion. I think we have to send our guys outside of this country.
When Avril Lavigne sang at the Winter Olympics in the closing ceremonies, did anyone not feel proud at that moment? We need those kinds of moments in our cultural life, when Canadians are feted outside of Canada and make money outside of Canada, frankly. If Michael Bublé couldn't play in the United States, Michael Bublé wouldn't be the big star he is today. The same is true of Céline Dion and Nickelback and all of these other great Canadian groups. Canada's just not a sufficiently large market for creating an income that supports artists at that level and allows them to reinvest in other artists in Canada, as Avril's label, Nettwerk, which is one of our members, did for years.
We really need those supports to encourage our artists to exploit foreign markets and develop there. They can stay in Canada and be residents of Canada but make their money abroad, come back here, and reinvest in other artists and have them grow. As they do that, of course, they're going to create musical works that all Canadians can hear and benefit from.
Our goal is to expand export marketing and to sustain the current domestic supports we have in place right now. Those have to be retained and hopefully expanded. But you know, it's a capital-intensive industry. It's expensive to compete with all those other people. The Chinese are learning to sing in English, guys. This is the great competitive wave that's going to be faced by artists around the world. So we just have to continue to invest in our people.