Harper Lies About Art Some More

Stephen Harper is lying again and he is guessing that the supporters he is seeking will be too dumb to tell the difference. How cynical is that? Not trying to convince voters of the value of your position but instead hoping that they will be dumb enough to believe your lies? Yesterday when asked about his cuts to the arts Stephen Harper told the press:

"I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see ... a bunch of people at a rich gala ... all subsidized by the taxpayers -- claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know those subsidies have gone up -- I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people," Mr. Harper told reporters.

I don't know what Harper is talking about really. Sure I've seen people come out to rich galas. These are generally held when the Toronto International Film Festival comes to town and American stars show up. The government though doesn't pay for that. There are sometimes Gala fundraisers for things like the Art Gallery of Ontario or the Royal Ontario Museum. While the Government contributes to the AGO and the ROM these galas are held to try and convince the better off in Toronto to contribute money to the facilities. The government does not pay for the galas and the galas raise money so the government doesn't have to pay as much.

None of this though has anything to do with the subsidies we are talking about, the subsidies Stephen Harper cut. Canadian artists are often faced with a difficult decision. Canada is not a big market (30 million people compared to over 300 million in the US). It is very difficult for many of them to get enough income from Canada alone. Those who can't do so frequently leave their friends, families and the country they love behind and live in the larger markets of the US or Europe.

The subsidies cut by the Conservatives were designed to help these artists find foreign audiences while still living in Canada. Most of the subsidies that come from these programs give an artist, or group of artists a few hundred dollars to help them travel abroad and enter foreign markets. If any of these people were wealthy they wouldn't bother - the amount of paperwork involved in getting such a grant is barely worth the small amount you get from them (if your application is accepted.) If you run a business in Canada you know the value of exports and you know that there are government programs designed to help you find export markets. It should also be noted that the programs being cut are tremendously successful. Canada is known the world over as a place that values arts and culture and a place that produces great artists and Canadian cultural exports bring in over 5 billion dollars annually.

Now, Stephen Harper has no trouble spending 300 million dollars on an election he said he wouldn't call. He has no trouble spending $1.4 billion dollars to subsidize oil sands development even though they are destroying the environment of western Canada and the oil companies are making record profits. He has no trouble spending billions subsidizing manufacturing exports but apparently spending 40 million to help struggling artists make a living while choosing to live in Canada is frivolous.

This policy would send a clear message to Canadian artists and to the world that Canada does not care about the arts, that if you want to be any kind of an artist you should leave the country. It would also shake the world's image of Canada.

So please, show Stephen Harper that you're not as dumb as he thinks you are and on Oct. 14 fire him and elect a Prime Minister who cares about Canada and doesn't assume that we're all idiots.

And now, to be fair:

A Rebuttal from the Conservatives