CFMC: Why Art is a Vital Issue

I've been asked, (with regard to the Canadian Fair Media Coalition, with everything else going on, how this can be important. With all of the issues facing Canada: war in Afghanistan, global warming, a stalling economy, spiking gas prices and a worldwide food shortage how can issues around 'arts and media' even be on the radar. Without belittling at all any of those issues I can think of several reasons why 'art, media and culture' need to be on the table.

What we are essentially talking about , at the core of it, is free speech, free expression, and the sharing of ideas and information. If we cannot freely and easily have such communication our chance of fixing any of the other 'more important' issues in a way that works for people is slim.

I think it's also safe to say that few other areas (with the possible exception of global warming) has been directly under attack under the Harper government. The frequent calls for censorship, for the limiting of information flow, for government control over media, for anti-consumer copyright laws, for cuts to arts and culture and this governments desire to give big media, big telecom and the U.S. anything and everything they ask for have amounted to a war on free expression, truth in media and Canadian arts and culture in general. The Harper government may not have done anything positive for the economy, jobs, poverty, etc but save the environment there are no others that have enjoyed the kind of 'seek and destroy' attitude that the Conservatives bring to arts and media.

Like their heros in the Bush administration the Harper government has learned that if you control the flow of information you can do, essentially, whatever you like. They also do not see 'arts and culture' as worthy of consideration or assistance. This brings me to the next point:

Arts, media and culture are a huge industry in Canada. Larger than either forestry or fisheries. As I laid out in the initial statement for the Canadian Renaissance Project according to the Canada Council for the Arts 7.7 billion in government Arts and Culture funding generates 40 billion in economic activity and creates 600,000 jobs. Both the hospitality and tourism industries would suffer greatly without Canada's abundant arts and culture sector. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the arts, culture and media sectors are like a constant, sustainable oil boom that is spread out across the country.

Canadian arts, media and culture are generally very quiet about being an industry at all. Serious demands are rarely made on anyone, there are rarely protests of any kind, the industry never goes on strike (at least not the whole thing at once), it never demands a raise or calls for greater recognition - yet the constant flow of world class artists in every field is one of the things the world knows best about Canada and Canadians.

So why should the arts, media and culture be on the table this election? Because it's important - vitally important to Canada, to the Canadian economy, and in one way or another to every other issue that may be on the agenda. As I said, 'the arts' are usually quiet in Canada; going about doing what they do and improving the lives of every Canadian. At the moment though art and media and truth, free expression, free speech and the marketplace of ideas are currently under attack by the Harper government and this time we have to have our issues heard.