Mr. Speaker, three programs were announced by the Minister of Canadian Heritage prior to the release of the budget: the additional $25 million to the Canada Council, an increase of $15 million in support for our publishing industry, and an additional $50 million to cover athletes and coaches.
Most important, what I would like to talk about is the government's renewal of the Canada television and cable production fund. This fund represents a uniquely successful blend of public and private funding. It joins government and cable industry contributed moneys to enhance the broadcast presence of high quality Canadian programs.
Last year the fund supported from 19,600 full and part time jobs throughout Canada. I must emphasize it was throughout Canada. Most of these jobs were in highly specialized skilled and were well paid jobs. The direct economic spin-off benefits are in the range of $625 million.
There also exists further economic benefits to those small and medium size businesses that supply services as a result of this increase in production activity.
The funds objectives are clear: to increase the quality and quantity of Canadian programming available to Canadians on television, to assist job creation and growth in all regions of Canada, to enhance the capacity to produce and distribute domestic television programs, to maintain and increase broadcast presence of distinct Canadian programs, and to encourage greater export opportunities.
The fund is financed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, Telefilm Canada and the cable industry's former cable production fund. In its first year of operation the new television and cable production fund has made possible a record number of 2,221 hours of Canadian programming that reflect the dynamic increased talents of Canadians and reach wide audiences both at home and abroad.
At a time when Canadians watch an average of 24 hours of television a week we must realize that this medium is our primary source of entertainment, information and news.
Coupled with the size and resources of the television industry of our neighbours to the south there exists a real danger of Canadians, young and old but especially our young people, our future, knowing more about the United States than about their own country, Canada.
The renewal of the fund represents not only the government's commitment to Canadian television but recognizes the positive economic impact of Canada's arts industry.
A country's real strength lies in its people. The arts and the culture of a people are the expressions of their heart and soul. It is the movies, television, music, painting, dance and theatre that enable Canadians to laugh, talk and cry together. Through them we can express our identity, our similarities and differences.
The production fund is a proven success, culturally and economically. The government's decision to extend the program is recognition of that success and of the importance we attach to Canadian cultural expression.
Canadians have a right to see and hear their own stories on television, the most powerful cultural medium of our time. Canadians deserve Canadian programming.
The renewal of the Canada television and cable production fund will go a long way to achieve this end. To date the fund has delivered more than 2,200 hours of high quality prime time programming from all regions in Canada. Without funding from the fund, many of these projects would never reach television audiences in Canada.
This is not just good news for television. This fund in particular was good news for the CBC. The 1996 cable production fund brought critical new resources to CBC schedules.
In 1996-97 the fund supported independent production for CBC-SRC totalling $91 million and produced $218 million in overall program budgets. The fund supported independent production for CBC-SRC totalling some 384 hours in 1996-97 with over 300 more new hours projected for 1997-98.
The CBC's Canadianization of English television and the significant enrichment of French television could not have happened without the fund.
There was the establishment of quotas for access to funds investment and licence fee components by independent producers working with the CBC. Half of the fund's moneys went to fund CBC programming production.
This targeted predictable funding has partially offset other funding cuts. It has permitted the CBC's television services to pursue national cultural objectives that would not otherwise be obtainable.
The broadcast schedules are unique in the volume and distinctiveness of their identifiably Canadian programming, from Omertà and Urgence to Wind at My Back and Black Harbour , from Juste pour rire to The Red Green Show . There are programs that arise from both the major centres and the regions of Canada, from Riverdale to North of 60 and from Watatatow to L'Ame d'un peuple . There are programs that affect all of Canada's peoples and reflect the way we look at each other.
As I stated this is just the beginning of our reinvestment into the arts. One of the things the public has sometimes felt is that when we are investing in the arts we are only investing in arts organizations. That is not true. The message we must bring to all Canadians is that when we invest in the arts, we are also investing in our economic and social well-being.
Recently the Canadian Conference of the Arts published a discussion paper “Arts in Transition Project”. It looked at how and why the Canadian public should justify public sector funding. I would like to conclude by reading from this report.
No reasonable Canadian believes that the purpose of our health care system is to employ doctors. No one complains that our legal system exists only to pay judges—.We value our health care, legal, and educational systems because of the fundamental benefits they make available to all Canadians who want or need them, whether or not specific individuals ever go to a hospital, take a case to court, or study at a post-secondary institution.
I would challenge our arts and culture industries and the government to work together with the public to show once again that our strategic reinvestment in the arts and culture industries is not just to benefit the artists and arts organizations, but is to benefit Canadians and our economic and social well-being as a whole.