The Liberal Party of Canada Arts and Culture Platform

Article by Ryan Laplante
In their 2008 National Election Platform the Liberal Party of Canada proposes vast financial endowments alongside a plan for long-term investment in Canadian culture. Having recognized the key contributions that the arts community makes to the Canadian economy, they feel that supporting this valuable economic tool is a necessity and makes good financial sense for our country’s future. Unlike the platforms of the National Democratic or Green Parties (both of whom also promise support and investment in the arts), the Liberal Party of Canada also includes both specific dollar amounts for these investments, and time periods over which these investments will be made. They have fully accounted for these promises, and ensure that they can be achieved.

The first step to their support of the arts begins with restoring the $44.5 million dollars recently cut from critical cultural support programs.

They plan to increase the Canadian Film and Video Production Tax Credit to 30 percent. This will allow more high-quality films to be produced, and also create more jobs in an industry that already employs over 125,000 Canadians. The total budget represented by this commitment is more than $160 million dollars.

Over the next four years, the Liberal Party of Canada will double the funding for the Canada Arts Council. This will bring its annual budget to more than $360 million dollars (an increase of $180 million). This increase will allow for even more significant investment in Canada’s artists and art institutions. In their own words: “With this investment, we are giving Canadian artists the tools they need to create exciting, vibrant products for all Canadians.”

In addition to re-storing the cuts made by the Conservative government, the Liberal Party of Canada intends to invest a further $15 million dollars for international arts promotion, and $16 million dollars in the Museum Assistance Program, which will help to safeguard our cultural heritage.

The Liberals are developing and will launch, if elected, the Canadian Digital Media Strategy which will create new high-skilled jobs in the rapidly expanding field of interactive media, thus allowing Canadians to stay at the forefront of an industry expected to be worth more than $65 billion globally in 2010.

Lastly, the Liberal Party of Canada promises to provide income-averaging for artists, which will allow the tax-system to better reflect the cyclical nature of an artists income. They believe, “This is an important tool for helping this country’s writers, artists and musicians continue to excel.”       

Stephane Dion and the Liberal Party of Canada have a clear vision of the future of the arts in Canada, and recognize both their cultural and economic necessity. Over the next four years they have specific initiatives to support the arts community in every aspect, ensuring: the future of Canadian arts institutions, our international presence, the production of Candian Fim and Television, and the support of artists on an individual level. This promised investment comes to a total of more than $600 million, and this is without factoring in the income-averaging or the Canadian Digital Media Strategy. The Liberal Party of Canada has made a commitment to the arts that has yet to be matched, or even paralleled in its specificity and realistic intentions, by the other party’s platforms.

To see the facts yourself, visit the Liberal Party of Canada’s website: www.liberal.ca

Or visit the Arts section of their platform directly at:

http://www.liberal.ca/pdf/platform/2008lp_richer_e.pdf

Visit ‘i vote for culture’ website.

We have been working with the Canadian Arts Coalition to ensure that the arts and culture remain an issue during the federal election campaign. If you have a moment, kindly visit www.ivoteforculture.com to cast your vote online for culture.  We’re hoping to get lots of votes, and we’re only at 4100.  Feel free to send this link to anyone concerned about arts and culture in Canada.

 Thanks,

 Amy

Amy Mushinski
Manager, Public Affairs

Canadian Opera Company
227 Front St. E. Toronto, ON  M5A 1E8

The Arts and Election 2008: A Call for Educator and Student Engagement

The upcoming federal election on October 14^th will be an important one for many aspects of Canadian society.  Health care, the environment, and the economy are major areas of focus.  Another topic of considerable controversy — if limited general public attention — is the range of changes the current government is making in terms of arts funding.  A variety of programs, primarily related to the touring and showcasing of Canadian artists abroad, are being cut or significantly reduced.  Both the nature of the cuts and the ways they are being implemented have proven to be the subjects of often heated debate.

It is not the place of educators or educational institutions to endorse specific political parties or politicians, nor to impose particular ideological positions on students.  It is entirely fitting, however, for educators to encourage their students to be informed and socially engaged.  The undersigned wish to encourage all citizens of voting age to explore the information available regarding these policy changes as they relate to the place and potential of the arts in Canadian society, to consider it carefully, to discuss the issues with others and ask related questions of their local candidates, and to express their position on this topic, among the full range of relevant issues, through their constitutional right to vote on October 14.

The short of it for Canadian arts educators: encourage your students to get the facts, think about them, talk them up, and vote.

Bruce Barton, Toronto

Pil Hansen, Toronto

Stephen Johnson, Toronto

Ric Knowles, Toronto

D.D. Kugler, Vancouver

Glen Nichols, Moncton

Shelley Scott, Lethbridge

Guillermo Verdecchia, Toronto

Jerry Wasserman, Vancouver

ELECTION INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS

Students can either register to vote in Kingston or they can actually choose to vote in their home ridings by special ballot. Normally, they would have to go downtown to the returning office at 366 King Street East (Suite 300) to do this, but on these three days they only have to go to the JDUC.

Voting by SPECIAL BALLOT means that the students can vote (in advance) in their home ridings. They can choose to do this, or they can choose to vote in the Kingston riding. If they choose the latter option, it is highly advisable that they still show up in the JDUC to get their names on the voter registry. It will save them major time on voting day because they won’t have to stand in the registration line up. It will also give them the correct address of their polling station.

To register or vote by special ballot, students need to bring ID that proves who they are and proves that they have an address in the electoral district they are voting for. If they have a driver’s license that shows both their photo and the appropriate address, then that is the only piece of ID they need.

However, if the address on their photo ID is not the same as the electoral district they want to vote in, then they can also bring a separate document that proves their address within that electoral district (this is most likely the case for the majority of students who may want to vote in the Kingston and the Islands riding). For example: if they are voting in Kingston, they need photo ID and they also need some other document that has both their name and their Kingston address on it. A lease, a phone bill, a Queen’s transcript, a credit card bill or a paycheck are all acceptable documents so long as they have both the name and the address on it.

Michel Rivard video