Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his excellent question, which is truly very pertinent. It should be understood that, although the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages rose in this House and stated that the budget of Heritage Canada was increased by 8%, the budget for the arts and culture did not increase. The Department of Canadian Heritage has a broad range of responsibilities such as sports, the Olympic Games, amateur sport, as well as national parks and the status of women. Heritage covers a number of things. The minister stated that the Department of Canadian Heritage budget was increased and that is true. But it was increased to plan and help with the Olympic Games to be held in Vancouver in 2010.
Cuts were made to cultural programs and programs to help artists travel fairly inexpensively throughout the world resulting in appreciable economic benefits. The amounts cut were allocated to the Olympic Torch Relay, which will be a big powwow—if I may use the term—that will criss-cross Canada over 40,000 km, half of them on the ground. $45 million was taken from artists to organize all types of activities—mainly sporting activities—along the route of the Olympic torch relay. When we consider the billions of dollars spent by this government, when we consider the $18 billion spent on Afghanistan, $45 million for artists represents barely 15 minutes in Afghanistan.