Mr. Speaker, as my colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore has pointed out, the NDP is prepared to support Bill C-18.
I take this as an opportunity though to talk about the importance of culture and the arts community in Canada. I am very fortunate to come from a vibrant community, Nanaimo—Cowichan, that has produced the likes of Diana Krall and many other very successful Canadian artists.
While I was in my riding last week, I had the opportunity to meet with some members of the writer's union. They talked about the plight of the artistic community in Canada. Although this initiative does support the development of culture in Canada, we must recognize that there is a very clear role that the government must continue to play in supporting arts and culture in Canada.
Some of our writers are suffering from the mega success stories that make everyone think that writers are all making big bucks. The reality is many of our writers in Canada are making less than $11,000 a year. That is a shame.
We need to look for ways to enhance and support writers, musicians, film producers, artists and actors in Canada to ensure that we maintain the vibrancy of our Canadian culture.
Max Wyman recently put out a book in which he talks about the importance of culture in Canada and the need to ensure that we continue to support arts and culture. He specifically talks about things such as the economy and the impact that arts and culture has on it.
I will use the example of a community in my riding called Chemanis. A number of years ago the town of Chemanis suffered as a result of a mill closure. It revitalized its community by building on the artistic community. It became the little town that could. What it did was develop murals and from those murals a number of painters, writers and potters helped reinvigorate that community. The artistic investment in our community has allowed the economy to grow and expand. That is just an example of an effort by all levels of government to support the arts community and to reinvigorate a community. There is a definite economic benefit to protecting our arts and culture.
The other issue around arts and culture is to ensure that we also protect the intellectual life in our communities. The federal government could play a critical role in providing funds for grants, providing educational opportunities and assisting artists and writers in residence at universities. We would expect this role could be revitalized over the next couple of years.
My colleague from Sackville—Eastern Shore also talked about the role of the CBC in culture. In may cases we can thank the CBC for bringing on local artists and promoting local writers and other organizations. Over the last number of years we have seen the erosion of that vital role of the CBC. We would look to the government to reinvest in the CBC and reinvigorate it.
My colleague also talked about films such as The Beachcombers . I am lucky to come from British Columbia. We have seen such films as The Beachcombers and Da Vinci's Inquest . We have a very vibrant film society there. We would like to see more investment in it. Not only is it an economic driver, but it is an opportunity to provide training and education and it is an opportunity to enhance the kinds of artistic endeavours our country can provide.
The NDP supports Bill C-18 and we look to the government to reinvigorate our arts community.