Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully when the parliamentary secretary was talking about how valuable the artistic community and artists are to one's society. He is preaching to the converted. He does not have to convince me of that. I have always supported the artistic community, either in private or public spending.
What I did not hear is whether or not the government will respect a commitment that the government made. When she was the critic the minister said, “We will respect a commitment,” and then when she was minister she said, “We are not going to honour any Liberal commitment”. Then on the weekend she said on the radio that she was speaking for herself when she said, “We will respect a commitment”.
There is a great deal of nervousness in the arts and culture community in our country because of the contradictory statements coming from the government. The only hope the artistic community has is that it will see some money in the budget.
If the government is just throwing up smoke screens while we are waiting for the budget, so be it. However, I would hope that it will also think about the effects its words are having on the artistic community as we wait for the budget. People in the artistic community should not have to be put through such stress.