I'm glad you brought that up because last week, at this committee, we heard from the president of the Fondation des artistes, Mr. Laperrière. The next day, we also met with the president of the UDA, Ms. Prégent. They each spoke about the urgent needs.
I want to provide a clear picture of the current state of affairs in the cultural sector. Ms. Prégent testified that it was customary, two or three times in any given year, for the executive committee to consider a request from an artist who wanted to withdraw money from their RRSP, which is funded by their UDA fee. At this time, the executive committee is looking at two or three requests at each meeting, or every two weeks. It's awful to see that self‑employed workers must use funds from their pension, which they build over the course of their career. That's the current state of affairs.
Last week, we spoke about what the Quebec department of culture and communications has done through the Fondation des artistes. It has given funding to the foundation to help artists in need. The foundation also came to talk about its accountability mechanism, reliability and transparency.
Are you recommending a model that mirrors what Quebec has done to support artists?
If not, would you consider this type of model?