Good morning. My name is Randy Joynt. I'm with the Royal and McPherson Theatres.
I want to thank you for travelling all the way to Victoria, particularly as I know that you've been on our other coast recently. In the performing arts industry, that's what's known as a “tour”.
Now, a well-run tour is incredibly important for performing arts presenters because it allows them to amortize production costs over a number of performances and also be very efficient with travel expenses—in effect, to be more productive. It also allows venues on Vancouver Island, for example, to bring in performances from Toronto or Montreal instead of bringing them in on a one-off basis.
Touring networks are very important, and they're in dire need of support, which is why I ask you today to recommend an increase of $30 million to the Canada arts presentation fund. This Canadian Heritage program is incredibly important to our industry and it allows access to the arts for folks in our part of the country.
Thank you.