(September 24, 2008 – Toronto, Ontario) -- Richard Hardacre, President of the union that represents some 21,000 Canadian members working in radio and television, went on the attack this morning at a small rally called to challenge remarks made by Prime Minister Stephen Harper yesterday regarding Canada's cultural industries and the people who work in them. Harper has classified his series of cuts to a variety of programs as nothing more than a niche topic, saying that "ordinary Canadians" are not particularly concerned with them.
Hardacre led off a series of high-profile speakers by detailing the value of Canada's cultural industry. "There are more than 1.1 million jobs within the cultural industry, and a contribution of more than $85 billion to the Gross National Product." It was a theme that would play through most of the comments that followed.
Wendy Crewson followed Hardacre with a very personal statement. "I'm sick and tired of being told by Prime Minister Stephen Harper that Canadians don't
care about the arts." She went on to quote from a study released two weeks ago by the Canadian Conference Board, which stated in part that the arts in Canada amount to 7.2 percent of the employment sector. "I'm tired of being told it doesn't matter," said Crewson. "We want to see our stories on our screens." She concluded by calling for the cuts to be restored and for ongoing, stable funding for the arts.
The argument was raised a notch when actor Colm Feore pointed out that often the arts are a mirror to society. Making reference to his uncanny portrayal of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, Feore quipped about Harper, "God forbid I should get to play him." In a more serious tone he talked about the importance of seeing Canadian stories told by Canadians. "If we lose that," he said, "if we lose sight of the value of that, it's going to be gone forever. And there will be no bringing it back. The fact that it is economically viable and makes good business sense is just a bonus. But this is about who we are. Not just for now, not just for us, but for our children and for our children's children."
Alberta Watson talked about the role of the arts within society, saying that its role "is to communicate the social, the political, the joys and sorrows of people in all communities in all nations." But, "Canada seems to be the exception." Turning her remarks directly to the Prime Minister, Watson added, "Mr. Harper, you deny all Canadians (the chance) to share their own history and current events for this generation and for generations to come. You are telling us that we are not worth a culture that is ours alone."
All the speakers, from Art Hindle to Leah and Gordon Pinsent, Maurice Dean Wint, Martha Burns and others, all stayed on theme, making various points. Leah Pinsent, for example, reminded people that "we don't visit Rome, Athens, Paris, Japan or 
Africa to learn about their economies. We go to experience and learn about their culture." But it was the remarks of Karl Pruner, actor and President of the Toronto chapter of ACTRA who brought the argument back to basics, using facts and figures to refute the Prime Minister's claim that this is a niche topic.
Pruner posed the rhetorical question, "Why do we talk about 'investing' in the auto sector, 'investing' in the energy sector, but 'hand-outs' to the arts?" He also used the auto industry to position his argument saying, "In Ontario, the film and television industry is right behind the auto industry in terms of its importance to the economy." Taking a page from a past US Presidential election, Pruner went on to say that the Prime Minister feels there is some contradiction between the arts and the economy. "Stephen," said Pruner, "the arts is the economy, stupid."
It is clear that the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) hopes to make arts funding an issue in the weeks remaining in the election campaign. At a time when major world economies are teetering thanks to the US mortgage crisis, it is difficult to predict if their voices will be heard. While all of the opposition parties have lined up against the changes to arts funding announced by the Conservative Party, no one can predict what financial pressures they may face should one of them, or a coalition of parties, get to form the next government. Stay tuned, as they used to say in television
