The program was established in 1999, I believe...or was it 1996? It has been a tremendous success. If anything, the problem it's had has been its own success.
Artworks have become more valuable. What it does is allow museums to get protection, not for the entire exhibition, but for most of the value of it.
Last week Mr. Flaherty raised that from $400 million to $600 million of coverage. The total that will be indemnified when all the regulations and amendments to the legislation have been put in place will be $3 billion per year. That sounds like a lot of money, but in the world of big art, of works by Van Gogh and Picasso, it isn't really that much.
This is actually tremendous news for Canadians. Canadians will have the opportunity, because of this program and the increase in it, to see works of art that they would just not normally have the opportunity to see. So it's a great news opportunity.
So far this program has really cost the Government of Canada nothing more than two, I believe, or three person-years to administer it. There has never been a claim on the program. In part that's because of the high standards the museums are able to maintain. It's imperative that those high standards stay there, because we don't want to see a big claim.
The program has been a great success. It doesn't really save the museums operating money, because these major exhibitions are financed through corporate sponsorship, through higher ticket prices, and so on, but it will effectively allow them to do more exhibitions and to bring them in.
It also gives the seal of approval of the Government of Canada to these activities, so it makes it easier to get loans from international collectors or museums. These are all very positive things. We were very pleased with the improvement to the program announced last week.