MONTREAL – In a speech given today to members of the Association des producteurs de film et de télévision du Québec, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff promised to support Canadian and Quebec culture.
“The companies that will succeed in the next few years will be those that say loud and clear who they are and who give priority to cultural investment,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “Culture is necessary to the Canadian identity. I believe the federal government must play an important role in promoting culture.
“Unfortunately, the Harper government thinks differently. It sees culture as the private domain of elitists and treats the Quebec cultural community with contempt.
“Culture is also an industry,” added Mr. Ignatieff. “And the federal government must be a partner with the cultural sector.”
According to the Conference Board of Canada, the cultural sector generates $85 billion a year and creates over a million jobs.
In 2008, Stephen Harper cut $45 million in culture programs. Among the programs cut were: Trade Routes and PromoArts programs, designed to help our artists perform abroad ($13.7 million); Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund ($1.5 million); and the National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector ($2.5 million). These programs were cut despite the artistic community’s broad consensus to keep them.
A future Liberal government will make culture a priority. Mr. Ignatieff announced that he intends to re-establish the role of the Government of Canada in promoting culture, by ensuring the following:
• Stable and predictable funding for CBC/Radio-Canada;
• Cancelling Conservative cuts to the international promotion of Canadian culture;
• A renewed emphasis on culture in Canadian diplomacy;
• Working with the cultural community to find a solution that protects copyright and intellectual property;
• Working with the cultural community to modernize Telefilm support programs and give the organization the means to carry out their mandates; and,
• Cancel the moratorium on international co-productions, making them attractive again.
“We’re presenting Canadians with a clear choice,” said Mr. Ignatieff. “The Liberal choice is to pay down the deficit and invest in priorities like Canadian and Quebec culture, while Stephen Harper has chosen more tax cuts for corporations that our country and our families can’t afford.”
“Investing in culture has always been a way to better understand others – whether they live down the street or on the other side of the world,” Mr. Ignatieff concluded. “I want to assure you that cultural enhancement and the necessary promotion of culture, so important in Quebec, is a central policy commitment of the Liberal Party.”
