First of all, the Province of Quebec is foresighted enough to have its own budget to help support international touring. However, they have long understood that there is investment by the province, which is keen to have a public standing internationally, and also investment by the federal government.
My understanding at this point is that there are two groups with which I'm very familiar whose touring plans are on hold. One is the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. They have concerts coming up in the United States this spring that are presently on hold. They cannot afford not to have the funding; they will lose too much money. We also know that the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of their new music director, Kent Nagano, has made a number of approaches towards international touring to restore that orchestra to its proper place on the world scene, and my understanding is that they too are in a very difficult situation.
Finally, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra has been invited to perform at the Olympics in 2008 in Beijing. We all want to be in China. We understand that there are ways of developing relationships in China that transcend merely having the cheapest goods and that the development of that kind of relationship is terrifically important. To see Canada as a sophisticated country with a strong arts community is a key part of that, in my view.