A4

By Jim Dumville

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It would be easier to write this commentary if I could use that oft-spoken, but highly panned four-letter "F" word. You know the one – it rhymes three times in the statement, "the truck got stuck in the muck."

But the Bugle-Observer has a policy – and it's the right policy for local community standards – that the "F" word is not used in print, even if it is part of an actual quote.

Although commonly heard in most public places, including school playgrounds, on TV, in music lyrics or universally yelled in frustration, the dirty, little, four-letter word remains socially unacceptable.

But this week I discovered the power of the famous "F" word can reach further than I ever imagined. It apparently can influence government policy. It can even damage Canada's artistic and cultural impact around the world.

"What the ‘F' are you talking about?" you may well ask.

Well, in the midst of the Olympic Games and while vacationing Canadians are trying to decide how the "F" they're going to survive another rainy day, the Harper government quietly announced the cancellation of PromArt, a cultural arts program designed to export Canada's cultural heritage around the globe. Apparently, one of the primary reasons to ditch the PromArt program was because about 3,000 of the millions of program dollars somehow got into the grimy little paws of a group called Holy Fu... whoops, can't write the word, but you can insert the nasty "F" word here.

The Harper government never really announced plans to cut the $4.5-million cultural program. It was a cabinet decision made under the guise of cutting unnecessary spending. After all, the Conservative's big spending ways, combined with ill-advised tax cuts during a serious economic downturn, has wasted away the once multi-billion dollar surplus to a point where the feds are slipping into deficit territory.

Holy F...! said Harper's cabinet disciples, "we have to do something."

Since this prime minister's target audience is the "Tim Horton" crowd, the cabinet chose easy-sell targets for elimination. The Tories believe these so-called "real" Canadians don't give an "F" about that high-brow artsy-fartsy stuff. That's the easiest place to make cuts – especially when they can leak to the media some nasty-named groups or projects getting these travel funds.

The Harperites, of course, don't mention most PromArt money went to important cultural pursuits, including the display of Inuit art in foreign nations; funding a world tour by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet; or sending Supreme Court justice Michel Bastarache and others to Cuba to lecture about the Canadian Charter of Rights.

The PromArt cancellation is just one of this government's attacks on Canadian arts and culture funding. They are trying hard to limit funding support for Canadian film, radio and TV production, although it is proven such cuts would economically devastate the industry in Canada. After all, one of the projects which fuelled the outcry from the far right was funding for a Canadian-made romantic comedy called Young People Fu... whoops, there it is again. Just insert that foul slang word which means having sex.

The government also announced that Trade Routes, an annual Canadian Heritage program focused on exporting culture, will be reduced next year and eliminated in 2010. To my knowledge there wasn't even a "F" word anywhere about recipients of Trade Routes grants.

Of course, the Conservative's leaked reasons for ending art and culture programs were not limited to trashy named rock groups and motion pictures. The Harper government's right-wing ideology also played a role. In an obvious effort to appeal to their core constituents from the old Reform Party, PMO officials also complained about arts and culture money supporting international speaking engagements of such "left-wing radicals" as popular journalists Gwynne Dyer and Avi Lewis.

It didn't matter, of course, that Dyer – whose column runs regularly in the Bugle-Observer – never applied for a grant. In 2007 – when the Harper government was in office – he accepted an invitation from the Department of Foreign Affairs to speak about democracy in Cuba. He was paid $3,000 to cover air fare and hotel expenses. Some bureaucrat, Dyer said, obviously decided to take the funds out of the PromArt budget.

There is little doubt a small amount of arts program funding is not wisely spent. But that means the government should develop and enforce better policy, not kill the programs. Unfortunately, that won't free up the cash to fight the pending Tory-made deficit. Neither will that appeal to Harper's neo-Con supporters.

Under Prime Minister Harper, Canada is destined to the cultural dark ages, where its artistic talent is hidden behind a growing cloud of right-wing ideology. Great cultural nations – such as France, Italy and even Great Britain – understand the importance of promoting their national art and culture to an international audience. They know the investment brings great returns, both in the form of money and pride.

Unfortunately, the Harper government doesn't seem to give a ... you know what ... about art and culture.