I'll be very frank, Mr. Clarke. Your former government, the Harper government, made massive cuts to arts and culture, particularly to cultural export programs.
Many representatives of the artistic community are here today. Remember the demonstrations that took place, in Quebec, in particular, in 2008, when those cuts were made. The cuts also hit our public broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada, very hard and left it more vulnerable.
We are developing a new cultural export strategy by drawing on the best models from other countries, particularly South Korea, France, and Great Britain. Unlike the Conservatives, we believe in the importance of the cultural sector as a vector of identity and protection for the French language. In addition, the sector has economic value: it represents $55 billion and 630,000 jobs in Canada.
We must establish new programs that will have a beneficial impact as a result of the thousands of jobs they create. I will have an opportunity to announce this cultural export strategy in the coming months.
I also had a chance to meet with the minister from South Korea.