The issue of supporting arts and culture was conspicuously absent on the federal campaign trail until recently, and now the two parties with the only shot of dethroning the incumbent are stepping forward as saviors.

No doubt the mobilization of members of the production sector in Quebec (see story, p. 6), and subsequently in English Canada, has set the domino effect in motion.

While everyone within five feet of a microphone at the Toronto International Film Festival had less than laudatory messages for the reigning Conservatives, a more focused approach was taken at a press conference at the Sutton Place Hotel. Up at bat for Team Canuck Film, Passchendaele Paul Gross and Adoration Atom Egoyan joined other notable arts leaders in putting out a call for some sense of funding vision from the party leaders.

At the beginning of the month, the CFTPA sent out letters to each federal political leader outlining the economic benefits of the production industry, and asking to hear his or her plan for growing it. 

The DGC has handed each party a questionnaire asking, among other things, where it stands on increased funding to Canadian film, TV and digital media. The DGC is posting responses to its website as they come in. Props go to the NDP for being first across the finish line. 

The party outlines that it would reform taxation of artists through the reintroduction of tax ‘averaging,’ and increase funding for the Canada Council – something that had been initiated by the Liberals when they were in power, and then was followed through on – but to a smaller extent than originally planned – by the succeeding Tories. The NDP also says it would sustain funding to the CTF and Telefilm Canada, and enhance federal production incentives.

It also pledges to, if elected, establish minimum broadcaster requirements for original TV drama production and maintain stringent rules regarding domestic ownership of Canadian TV networks. (For its part, ACTRA was publicly incensed by remarks made by Stephen Harper in which he suggested he would loosen foreign ownership restrictions on transactions valued under $1 billion.)  

The Liberals later unveiled their campaign platform in Montreal, where the outcry against the Harper government has been loudest following cuts to the A-V Preservation Trust, the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund, the National Training Schools Program, Trade Routes and PromArt. 

The Liberals have promised to reinstate those $45-million cuts, substantially boost funding to the Canada Council, increase the film and TV production tax credit by around 30%, give $25 million to something called the Canadian Digital Media Strategy for training in the new media sector, and pledged $126 million to promoting Canadian artists abroad – an initiative that went by the wayside when the Tories routed Trade Routes and PromArt. 

On one hand, it’s hard not to be cynical about politicians. Lest we forget, it’s the Liberals that sent this industry into a tizzy five years ago when they slashed the budget of the CTF by $25 million per year (since reinstated). But this new Liberal regime sees an opportunity to shore up support in culturally sensitive Quebec – where they tend to not do well, and where Harper needs to succeed in order to achieve a majority government.  

So, however calculated the motives, we’ll take what they’re selling.

And then there’s the Conservatives themselves. They are not making any promises whatsoever regarding support to cultural industries. But now that the matter is getting increased media attention, they’re out there only defending the cuts they’ve made and are staying mum on potential further slashing to programs such as the Canada New Media Fund and the CTF.

Playing their cards close to the vest, the Conservatives have said that any programs that have been or may be cut might be replaced with similar programs, although no specifics have been offered. They have also repeatedly told the press that the slashed streams were not efficient, and that, overall, they have actually increased spending on arts and culture over the previous Liberal government.

As first reported in The Globe and Mail, a new report from the Canadian Conference of the Arts reveals that the Tories’ claim is not quite accurate. While they may be putting more money into Heritage coffers, less of Heritage’s budget is actually going to arts and culture, and more is going to other areas of Heritage’s bailiwick, including intercultural understanding, citizen participation and sports.

We have gotten quite a sense in recent months of where the Conservatives’ sentiments really lie with regards to Canadian film, TV and digital media, and if they get their majority, we will see firsthand their unadulterated vision – such as it is ­- for culture in this country. Harper offered a preview, when, at a campaign event in Saskatoon, he said that ‘ordinary working people’ are not concerned with arts funding, going on to disparage artists at ‘rich’ galas who complain about the level of government subsidies. 

The polls as of this writing indicate that, individually, neither the Liberals nor the NDP have the stuff to win this election. Recent comments by NDP leader Jack Layton indicate that he would be open to the idea of a coalition government with the Liberals, as short-lived as those entities tend to be. But right now that sounds like the best option on the table for the future of this industry.