Mr. Chair, it is an honour to rise here tonight and discuss culture and heritage in the House.
It was 24 years ago that I quit school with the plan to be an artist. I believed at that time that if I worked hard, worked every single day, and if I put everything in my life on the back burner, I could make a living in Canada as an artist. After 24 years I found out a simple thing: that the difference between a large pizza and a professional artist in Canada is that the large pizza will feed a family of four. I had five in my family to feed and that is why I am now a politician, for the time being anyway, and as long as the good people of Timmins--James Bay prefer my singing in the House rather than my singing on the floor. I say that because I learned one lesson and I sometimes think that I might have made a mistake in my career.
About 14 years ago I made a conscious decision not to go to the United States because I believed then that Canada was a place worth celebrating and that our stories should be told across Canada. Many of the stories I told were in western and northern Canada. I notice that other groups that made that same decision with me at the time are no longer doing their arts full time. Friends of mine who went to the states are still working.
When we are talking about funding artists in Canada, we have to realize that we are spread out over such vast distances that it is virtually impossible in a market economy for an artist to make it across Canada more than once a year and make it consistently.
I am very concerned when I read the spending estimates. Canada Council is looking at a cut from $153 million today to $125 million over the period of 2006-07. That is $28 million. I was never very good at math, having left to become a musician, but I am told by my friends at the Canada Council that it is looking at numerous cuts.
I know Canada Council has taken serious hits and now we are talking about taking money out of programming. That is where it is going to come from. I would like to ask the minister to explain to me, how can we talk about protecting Canadian culture when the money is coming out of the pockets of the artists?