It's been some time since I've posted on the Canadian election campaign and its associated forays into arts policy predictions north of the 49th. But still, strangely, the wheels of parliamentary democracy have continued to churn regardless of whether I am paying attention. Strange, that. Luckily, Jennifer McMackon at Simpleposie has been valiantly keeping fresh links posted on related news and views across the country. Here's a recap:
- The arts-fund-cutting Tories are leading in the polls for another minority government
- But the centre-left parties of Canada might consider a coalition to beat them
- Tory leader Stephen Harper thinks that by playing piano for a Globe and Mail reporter his image as an arts supporter will be sealed.
- Playwright Wajdi Mouawad says "Yeah, I don't think so..." to Harper in an open letter
- The Globe later reports that Tory claims to have boosted arts funding to never-before-seen levels is a hoax; overall spending to the Department of Canadian Heritage and related Crown Corporations has increased, but spending on the arts sector specifically within that has gone down in favour of sports and citizen participation.
- Blogger Paddy Johnson at Art Fag City comes back north of the border (at least electronically) from New York City to condemn Harper's cuts on lefty website rabble.ca
- The Department of Culture arts activism group continues accept and to post 30-second anti-Harper ads, and also coordinated a protest at a Harper appearance in Oakville recently
- And, last but not least, Dion said he would reverse the arts cuts
Photo of anti-Harper graffiti from Christian et Cie's Flickr photostream
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