Subject: Canada’s secret online budget consultation by risa
I received this email only today and am infuriated. When public consultation is dealt with in a shoddy way it demonstrates a deep disregard for other people’s perspectives, knowledge and opinions. I am horrified by the thought of a government that would make such a manipulative mistake.
There has certainly been a lot of arts funding in Canada. Perhaps this has been a fundamental contributor to our international reputation for rockingness and whatever loveability we have. Perhaps, as the founders of Jeunesses Musicales believed in the 1940’s, the arts have a way of communicating something true about peace even when the rest of our languages seem to have gone mad.
In my experience, even when arts groups that received grants put on a flop, or are otherwise unsuccessful in any number of ways, they still trigger a positive cascading effect around them. Other people have new found hope when one of their broke art friends gets grant money. The money gets moved around as people are finally able to pay the friends who have been working for years (sometimes) for free. Sometimes grant money goes to your head, changes your art, and that can be bad. But money has this effect everywhere, and it does as little damage as it can in the arts. grr.
The increase to the Canada Council of $5 per Canadian that was announced during the election by the Liberals is now very much in jeopardy. The new government has repeatedly ducked questions from the press and in the House of Commons about what they plan to do for the arts. There was almost nothing in the throne speech to indicate that culture matters to Canadians.
We have learned that in the tiny window of time between now and April 19 the government is asking for input from the public about the upcoming budget. They have been quite quiet about it, and it’s all on line. So we do have a chance to make sure they know that we have not gone away. The online link is http://www.fin.gc.ca/activty/consult/prebud_e.html and it is open to anyone who wants to participate. Email directly to budget2006consult@fin.gc.ca Please take a moment to e mail your support for an increase to the Canada Council’s annual budget of $5 per Canadian. This funding would be transformational for the arts all across the country, and would coincide with the Council’s 50th birthday. And if you can encourage friends and family to do the same, the more they hear the more effective.
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