That is always an obligation—a responsibility. We take pride in protecting our artists' interests, not only through our investments in culture—as part of our programs—but also through our policies, which will always be headed in that direction. That approach applies to our investments in the Canada Council for the Arts.
Some of the programs you mentioned were short-term projects, which are now finished. The Canadian Conference of the Arts had almost 800 member organizations at the time. The maintenance of that umbrella body is in its members' hands. We want to invest in culture and not in organizations that, frankly, have done virtually nothing over the past few years.
I can tell you, when we announced that we were ending funding for the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the protestations were virtually non-existent. Many cultural organizations realized that was an organization that over the years had become incredibly stale, to the point where.... I don't think there was a more high-profile or important debate we had in this Parliament, in a respectful way—our party disagreed on some of the elements, we agreed on others—than on copyright legislation. It is a critical issue for artists in this country, and the Canadian Conference of the Arts didn't take a position. What kind of arts advocacy organization doesn't actually take a position on the most important arts legislation to come before Parliament in a decade? But they didn't.
I can tell you, when we ended funding for the Canadian Conference of the Arts we didn't create a vacuum. There are other organizations that stepped up. You've met with them, and I've met with them as well. The Canadian Arts Coalition stepped up. They're a great organization that's actually pan-Canadian and has advocated for specific things, and we've worked with them very well.