Madam Speaker, I am delighted to have been able to turn the attention of the House to the issue of the artists in the country. It has been a privilege. We heard some interesting things in the course of the debate.
I think that we heard from all sides that there is a sincere concern about the continuance of real support for people in the arts. My motion is quite symbolic. It simply says let us now look at the economic state that people in the arts face in the country.
I appreciate the comments by my colleague from the Bloc who in fact is an artist herself. She is an eloquent spokesperson for persons with disabilities and also for culture.
I also appreciate the comments that have been made about the need to really examine our tax system to see who it is in fact it represents and examine the idea that people who are making under $15,000 are there. We have to make sure that we are not taxing the wrong people. All of these things are excellent ideas.
The Canadian Conference of the Arts has put forward some strong suggestions on how we can support people in the arts. One of the them is tax breaks for copyright income. Another one is an income averaging system. The third one is really careful fine tuning of the employment insurance system which would allow artists to be part of that and get some security.
The point has been made that the artist is no different from the mechanic or many other people in the country who work and are critical to the existence of the country. The point was made that an artist can in fact work at something for years on end and not find any financial benefit until three or four years down the line. It is very different. It is not a wage situation. They do not get a paycheque at the end of every two weeks and that makes a big difference.
Everything has been said today. I have received some wonderful comments from artists from across the country. I want to take the last few minutes to put a couple of things on the record.
Ingrid Jenkner, the curator of the Mount St. Vincent Gallery in Halifax, wrote:
Artists do not constitute a “special interest group” comparable to powerful corporate lobbies. They are neither wealthy nor well-organized. They are undersupported, period. The incomes of visual artists are especially pitiful. I am speaking as a Dartmouth constituent and as a public art gallery director who has worked with visual artists for 25 years. Let's get this motion passed and prove that Canada is a civilized country.
Emily Bickell of Globe Studios wrote:
It is a constant struggle for artists to meet financial requirements while making a serious attempt to have a professional arts career. Emerging artists in particular have a very difficult road ahead as they strive to create artwork without financial support or a body of work as “stock” which they could sell to finance future endeavours.
Leslie Smith wrote:
As president of the Toronto Chapter of the Periodical Writers Association of Canada, PWAC, I can tell you that things have gotten worse for the freelance writers who provide so much content for Canadian newspapers and magazines. Media convergence, the rise of the Internet and just plain stinginess on the part of publishers have meant that our real incomes have nosedived over the past 50 years.
I will read something from Alberta's Lieutenant Governor, Lois Hole, which I think is really germane to the argument. She said:
The contributions of artists are as vital as those of the entrepreneur, the police officer, the doctor, the custodian, the child care provider and the construction worker. Artists are just as important because they are our greatest teachers and questioners. They give us the means to think critically, with a keen eye for both the smallest details and the big picture.
She asked us to imagine how different the world would be if we did not have our singers, painters, writers and sculptors serving as our eyes. She went on to say, “Frankly, I think we would enjoy a more saner, more compassionate society, one that keeps a better eye on the details that can make or break a culture”.
We have an opportunity today to support the arts in many ways. We can support them by putting more money into the Canada film fund, into the CBC; by funding our Canada council better; and by putting some special mechanisms into the unemployment insurance system that would take into account the needs of people working in the arts. We could do this through some kind of tax relief for copyright income for artists, and with things like income averaging.
What we have to do is say that it is art that legislates the heart of a nation. That is where we have to begin and that is where we will end.