Discrimination and vote-buying is behind the Harper Conservatives’ decision to cut off funding to gay pride and arts festivals in favour of those events that support their right-wing agenda or pander to their core voting base, Liberal Tourism Critic Navdeep Bains said today.
“The Conservatives have a long history of attacking gay rights – and they want us to believe that this decision is all about spreading the money around?” said Mr. Bains. “Their justification for cutting funding to one of Canada’s largest and best-known tourism events in North America is just another example of the Conservative culture of deceit.”
Pride Toronto Executive Director Tracey Sandilands said she believes ‘homophobia’ is behind the government’s decision to cut its $400,000 funding under the Marquee Tourism Events Program. Last year, former Tourism Minister Diane Ablonczy was stripped of the Marquee program and later shuffled out of the portfolio after she awarded funding to Pride Toronto and a drag queen photo-op angered social conservatives in the Conservative caucus.
Not a single gay pride event across the country is getting any funding this year. The Conservatives now claim that funding is limited to two events per city, despite the fact that Winnipeg and the Quebec City Area each got three events. Events with little international drawing power are being funded, despite the program’s goal of stimulating the economy.
“This program isn’t about economic stimulus – it’s about blatant, political vote-buying,” said Mr. Bains. “They’re taking funding from events where the Conservatives have few votes, like extremely popular arts festivals that need government help to thrive.”
In addition to the Pride Toronto cuts, this weekend it was revealed that the country’s largest folk festival in Edmonton and the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival received no tourism funding, while the Honda Indy Edmonton and the Edmonton Eskimos both had their funding increased substantially.
Terry Wickham, producer of the Edmonton Folk Festival, called the program “unfair and political” and said there should be a public inquiry into how decisions were made to disperse the funds.
“Liberals would govern for all Canadians – and not use funding cuts to discriminate against ‘fringe groups,’ as the Prime Minister calls them,” concluded Mr. Bains. “Conservative ideology is now on full display in cuts to women’s groups, cuts to reproductive rights in development assistance, and now cuts to arts and pride tourism funding.”
