No Arts Cuts in Ottawa

In early November unpopular Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien introduced a plan to cut most of the arts funding for the city of Ottawa. Fortunately that plan fell apart last night.

"The motion, which passed by a vote of 15-9, caught a number of councillors completely offguard including Mayor Larry O'Brien who appeared flummoxed by the surprise turn of events.

"I'm a little exasperated at this point. I wanted to have a debate, but obviously a majority of council wanted to go to five per cent as quickly as possible," O'Brien said after the meeting.

which means that Ottawa's music festivals and Tulip festival, their book awards, heritage projects, diversity festivals, and performing arts are safe for another year.

Note to Conservatives: apparently, yes, people do care about the arts - you should write that down somewhere.