Like everyone, we are waiting. We will look at the budget carefully to see exactly what is there and what is not. The mandate letter says that the Minister of Canadian Heritage has the mandate to double the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts. We will see under what conditions that will be done.
I have always said that new investments will be made in keeping with our new funding model. So it is clear to us that we must not repeat what has been done in the past ad infinitum. We need new funding models that, for example, would make it possible to welcome the new generation. We need business models that are different from those created in the past. They must be much more collaborative and not really force young artists to constantly keep creating new non-profit structures and organizations. The way art is created, disseminated and presented today is different from how it was done 60 years ago.
Today, we are talking about a $47.7-billion economy. Some 130,000 artists are at the heart of that economy, about 100,000 of whom are directly affected by the Canada Council for the Arts. Those artists have a key role because they develop content. They are currently poorly paid. The digital developments have brought along many pay-related issues. We need much better adapted models in that area.
If new investments are made in the Canada Council for the Arts, we really want to have a positive impact for at least one generation by changing the way to support creators and being much closer to their needs and their ways to create.