Mr. Speaker, it is once again a pleasure to be here for the adjournment proceedings, for a question that deals with issues that the member has in fact received the answer to a great many times.
The member talked about programs and she likes to talk about cuts, but she never talks about investments that the Bloc voted against, substantial investments like the increase to the Canada Council for the Arts, like the new investment under the economic action plan that put hundreds of millions of new dollars into the arts in this country, and that member voted against it.
What is more, when the Bloc came forward with ideas for a stimulus package, it actually never mentioned anything about artists at all, but every day here we are. I said last week that it is like Groundhog Day here. Every day I wake up and I feel like the alarm clock is playing the same song and I get the same question. I provide the same answer which is a truthful answer.
The member heard the same from the deputy minister of the department who is not an employee of the government. She actually works in the department and serves all Canadians in a position representing Canadians, not in a position reporting as a member of the government. The deputy minister had no reason to mislead the member nor the House.
The deputy minister was very clear when she reported to the standing committee, of which the member is a part, specifically she mentioned trade routes. It was a $7 million program, but only $2 million went to artists and $5 million was waste. The member keeps coming back and says, “We want you to waste money. If you don't reinstitute a program that wastes money, we're just going to keep asking the question until you as a government wastes money”.
I do not really want to waste money. That is terrible that the member would come in and talk every day and suggest that we would waste money.
What really bothers me is that artists have become wedge politics for the Bloc Québécois. It really bothers me because they are not wedge politics. They are people. They are passionate people. They care about their work. They care about what they do. They feel it in their heart and their soul, and they should not be wedge politics. They should not be a political football that gets kicked around the House two or three nights a week because we have been pretty clear on this.
What I can say is that no government in history has ever put more money into supporting Canadian arts and culture in this country. That is clear. The member knows that, but she comes back every week and she kicks that football and she plays with the hearts, souls and minds of artists from across the country. She makes them a political wedge issue. That is awful.
It is Groundhog Day here again and the funny thing is that this morning I was in my car and I saw a groundhog. This morning the director of parliamentary affairs for the department called me and said, “I see a groundhog, so that probably means you will be back”.
It is Groundhog Day again. Here we are: same question, same answer. A truthful answer that no government in history has ever put more money behind the arts. No government in history has ever given more money to the Canada Council for the Arts than this government. The party that voted against those record funds is the Bloc Québécois which is playing wedge politics with artists.