Mr. Speaker, I am not quite sure who the Bloc member is listening to but I do know that the Bloc voted against $530 million worth of investment into arts and culture through the economic action plan.
I will read what The Globe and Mail had to say about the new awards. It stated:
It's a visionary notion.
To seed such an enterprise in the midst of a worldwide recession is so bold as to be virtually unheard-of.
This is about giving a jolt of entrepreneurial energy to the arts, about putting young artists in a borderless world on centre stage, and with them, Canada, as a country that is open to world culture, and cares about the arts and artists.
Artists should be thrilled. This is their moment.