The Path

There are times when a path is chosen but its ultimate destination is not known. Looking back at our Canadian Election, a path was chosen by the Conservatives that resonated with a lot of hard working tax payers, including myself. The idea was to be fiscally prudent by cutting back on some of the art subsidies that were verging on the ridiculous. Here are just two examples that came to my attention today.

The Canadian Television Fund supports the production and broadcast of high quality Canadian television programs. It is funded by the Canadian federal government and Canadian Cable and direct-to-home satellite industries. The 2007-2008 Canadian Television Fund annual report showed the $10,000 support of “Famous Whores in History”.

The $4.7 million program PromArt administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (that has since been cancelled) provided grants for international travel to Canadian Artists. One prominent example of why they cancelled this program was the $3,000 grant that they gave to a Toronto rock band called ‘Holy F**k’ to tour the U.K.

If you recall, there was an outpouring of indignation in Quebec who touts itself as being an 'art culture' and the Conservative support dropped off so dramatically there that it resulted in lost seats and an eventual minority government.

So, one should sit down on the comfortable bench at the beginning of the path and think long and hard about starting down that road. Who knows where it may lead?