Finance minister defends Tory cuts to arts funding

TORONTO - Finance Minister Jim Flaherty defended on Wednesday the Conservatives’ cuts to arts funding as a part of a wider spending review, but acknowledged there was political direction involved in the process.

The government last month announced plans to eliminate close to $45-million in cultural programs at the departments of Canadian Heritage and Foreign Affairs and International Trade.

The cuts have drawn frequent criticism from the arts community, with television and film actors staging a protest in Toronto on Wednesday and Quebec artists holding a rally in Montreal on Tuesday night.

Flaherty on Wednesday described the cuts as cost-containment measures, but he noted politics played a part in the decision-making process.

“We are a Conservative government and the ministers who sit on the Treasury Board have that hat on as well,” he told the National Post editorial board. “This is not a bureaucratic process, the decision is made by the ministers who sit on the Treasury Board and they have views on certain programs.”

The decision to slash more than a half dozen arts programs was announced less than a month before Prime Minister Stephen Harper called an election for Oct. 14.

The affected programs aided the export of films, provided administrative support to culture groups and funded training, among other initiatives.

Protesting actors in Toronto noted the arts industry provides 1.1 million jobs and adds $86 billion to the GDP.

“That is more than the value added of entire Canadian retails sector . . . Stop the cuts,” said Karl Pruner, president of ACTRA Toronto. “You have to invest in this business and the investment you put in returns 200 per cent - in this day and age that’s not bad.”

Also on Wednesday - one day after Harper said “ordinary” Canadians don’t care about whining government-subsidized artists, Quebec’s Culture minister announced she will host a meeting with her provincial and territorial counterparts to tackle the issue.   

“It’s a very important question for us in Quebec and for other provinces, such as Ontario. We share concerns on this issue,” said Christine St-Pierre, who has been a vocal opponent of the cuts.

St-Pierre hopes to come up with a consensus at the meeting Thursday and Friday to force the Conservatives to reverse the cuts.

She said Wednesday she has already had talks with her Ontario counterpart, Aileen Carroll.

Flanked by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty in Toronto Wednesday, Carroll strongly condemned Harper’s criticism of the arts community. She said she was “flabbergasted” by the prime minister’s comments and “disappointed” by the Tories approach to arts and culture.    

Among the first programs cancelled was PromArt, which provided travel grants to artists.

A leaked government memo questioned the appropriateness of handing money to Holy F***, a rock band, along with broadcaster and “general radical” Avi Lewis and “left-wing columnist” Gwynne Dyer.

While the document hinted at ideological reasons for the program’s demise, Flaherty said the decision was initially spurred by more mundane factors.

The Treasury Board last year began reviewing every department, program and Crown agency in an attempt to control government spending, he said.

“We do not assume every government program should go on forever. There should be a beginning, a middle and an end to most government programs, except obviously things like old age pension programs that are there permanently. So there will be more of this over the course of the next several years - assuming we are re-elected - where some government programs will end and other government programs will start.”