OK, so here’s an isuue. Wha about arts funding?

Is this not a most vital time to be upholding and promoting the arts? Industries invovlving manufacturing, natural resources, financial services, farming etc etc are all in tatters. A vibrant arts presence in our society is not only food for the soul but can provide food on the plate. Can anyone argue that the likes of Glenn Gould, Margaret Atwood, The Group of Seven, The Canadian Opera Company, Wayne and Shuster, Gordon Lightfoot and thousands of others didn’t spin some cold hard cash that benefitted this potentially great country? Let’s not cut - let’s nourish the arts!

A vibrant arts presence in our society is not only food for the soul but can provide food on the plate

The Arts Community should know……they’ve been feeding at the trough long enough

Let’s not forget that that the Conservatives and Harper have been mud-slinging in their ads etc for the last while. They are no angels in the nasty comments arena. The display of Harper meeting with a family in Richmond yesterday was embarrassing. This is the type of photo-op that I would expect from the Liberals. Who was he trying to impress?
I am annoyed at Harper & the Conservatives for calling this election and ignoring the fixed election date. They have easily forgotten all the motherhood statements that they made when passing the legislation. It is convenient for the Conservatives to be calling this election, who cares that the majority of Canadians were happy with the present government and did not want an election.
I think that the NCC should be careful in becoming a participant in this election by supporting the Conservatives. My support for the NCC has been based on their previous record of not supporting any particular party. I expect that the NCC would highlight and object to Conservative policies that attack are basic freedoms.
I have always supported and will continue to support the Conservatives but we still need an independent watchdog such as the NCC.

I do suport the ‘arts’ but to those of you who want continued funding - should there not be some criteria on what is ‘art’. The display of ‘dead rabbits’ as a form of art would be one issue I have (displayed in Winnipeg I believe). Also the use of funds for adult X-rated movies is another. There is a problem in what liberal arts consider art and the ROC. Ex. the million dollar painting purchased for an Art Gallery in ON with taxpayers money. Three staight stripes red/black and whatever the third color was or not. It was not ART in many people’s eyes - more a rip off. The point being - just like any other dept. there has to be criteria - then argue for funding - but not the way it was set up by the LIberals.

It is too bad the federal election campaign has to drag on for over a month. I and many others are more than ready for the vote now. It has been clear for some time that the three opposition parties have been out to do absolutly nothing but torment the government. It is up to the voters to support the government so that the business of governing Canada can move forward.

I think Prime minister Harper should
Lay off the continual denigrating attacks on Dion’s poor leadership abilities.– enough is enough. (There is such a thing as overkill) T he press and public polls have already established this fact, and I feel he is seen as rubbing salt in an opponents inborn and unchangeable weakness Instead ,should spend the advertising moneystressing much superior policy differences,
with the difference in leadership qualities speaking for themselves .

Trouble is, right in the Conservative caucus we have people
who are willing to say, and I quote, “Frank, policies don’t win
elections”.

Sad part of that is that he is probably right. A huge block of
uncommitted voters swing with the polls and the way the
leader wears his tie. The word “Policy” makes their eyes glaze
over.

I try to bring “policy” down to the street level at every election
by writing and distributing a “neighbor letter” on my street and
its intersecting street. If anyone wants a copy of a recent one
I’ll send it. I am told they have an impact.

Cheers,

F.

Back to the arts…
The trough has also been visited by folks in the aerospace, automotive, agricutlure, fishing industries to point out a few.
As for the dead rabbits etc, I would say those regretable and possibly over sensationalized, situations are vastly outweighed by the many legitimate arts endeavours Canadians can truly be proud of.

Arts have always been one of the key, if not the key, indicator of social advancement. Art is the voice of a culture and a society. All healthy countries support the arts through pubic funds in some form. Artists inform us of our environment and are necessary in maintaining an awareness of our world and a perspective on its state. For those who view art as only an aesthetic, I think they are simply not cognizant of the reality of what art is and its purpose. The paltry amount of money we collectively contribute to all forms of art and communication if Canada underlies a deep social malaise that is contributing to a lack of vision, values and national goals (our poor athletic performance at the Olympics is part of this national apathy). These cuts to the arts will contribute to an ongoing loosing streak we have been on for some time now. We cannot let policy makers be the guiding light of our country. They serve for us, not the other way round.

You had mentioned in the above article, “When the Green Party wins a seat in Ottawa they will be a welcome addition to the national debate.” Did they not win a seat in the last Parliament?

Here is the count since 2000 and at dissolution.

Party 2000 2004 2006 At dissolution

Liberal 172 135 103 95

Reform 66 - - -

Conservative 99 124 127

NDP 13 19 29 30

Bloc 38 54 51 48

PC 12 - - -

Green - 1

Personally, I don’t think the BLOC should be represented because they don’t represent ALL the people of Canada, but just one province.

Barry - The Green Party did not obtain this seat through a democratic vote. On September 1, 2008 Independent MP Blair Wilson “Crossed the Floor” so to speak and joined the Green Party. He was not elected to the House of Commons as a member of the Green Party, nor did he participate in the most recent legislative session as a member of the Green Party. I believe there is a clear difference between crossing the floor to join a party and winning a seat as a member of a party.

How can you trust aleader that says one thing and does the opposite
Trust units,said he would’,t change them, three months later he desecates them , said senators shoud be elected , then appionts two.passes legislation of fixed date for elections, calls an election ayear early. lies and dam lies.

It is one thing to say while in opposition that you are not going to tax income trusts and then have some of the largest companies in the country (eg. BCE Inc., Encana) come to you a year later when you are in power and say “we are going to convert from being a corporation to an income trust”.

Part of the principle of being an income trust is that the trust is supposed to be structured so that the trust does not pay income tax! So who ends up paying the tax, sooner or later? The owners of the trust. A lot of newer trust investors loved their “high” returns, most of which was simply a return of their own capital. Once all their capital is returned, the tax man comes.

Could you imagine the screaming that would happen when (IF?) taxpayers “discovered” that the largest Canadian companies were no longer paying income tax and that the taxpaying public at large who own trust units were on the hook for what was once corporate tax payable?

Or am I giving too much credit to the taxpaying public at large?

I agree. The arts should not be funded. That way I can buy art at silent auctions and write it off on my taxes as a charitable donation. Screw the arts, just give me that handsome tax return!
And while we are at it, if our hosiptals weren’t funded, I could donate to that as well, and make a mint!
Oh, or I could have shares in a company like BMW, and I could create an “art show” for insert charity here and write off the whole damn thing so my end of year looks even better!
Finally, it is amazing how everyone has the solutions, and the country I am part of is stagnant. National Citizens Coalition? Which citizens? The ones who have time to sit reading a website and writing retoric all day, or the citizens actually doing something in this country?
Should never have let the old folks learn how to use computers, in my opinion.

When the reform party was left out of debates, for whatever reason, I was inclined to think that had they been included, their rational stance on a whole ton of things would have swayed a heck of a lot of voters their way. Excluding the green party from public debate because that’s what the main parties did to reform way back when, doesn’t strike me as a particularly valid reason.

The environmental movement is becoming almost axiomatic, getting to be like religion, hard to speak out against, but it needs to be opposed rationally and based on principal. Wouldn’t a public debate be a good opportunity to begin a rational opposition to it. There’s an excellent case against the environmental movement. The conservatives should dig to the bottom of the rhetoric and find out what it is and then have the courage to state it.

Steven Harper should be himself and not try to imitate what the public wants. He is criticized for not having the charisma some of the other leaders are supposed to have. People that are charming are not always what they appear to be. Con men and liars have great charm. Harper when not in public is very warm personally and has a sense of humour that sometimes is hidden when he is on stage.
I feel he should not give any airtime criticising the other parties, that gives them credibility. He should get the message out what he has done up to now, in plain speak and what he wants to do for this country. He should just focus on what he wants to accomplish when he is elected again. I feel he had to call an election because he was just spinning his wheels against the opposition who was blocking any progress he was trying to make. Stick to the issues leave the back biting to the opposition but correct any accusations or false lies they throw at him.
Show strenght in what he believes in, show some passion on what he want to do.

God Bless Danny Williams. What difference does it make if they talk about the real issues but never follow through if they can profit elsewhere. If you want things to change in Ottawa be at your MP’s riding office everyday with ideas that will help your community. It does not matter who is in charge. They only see the next election as the main purpose of government. Tell your MP to do the impossible, act like an adult. Conservative, Liberal, NDP, or Green

RMS…You absolutey correct. Politicians are all the same ad they all have short term views of governing because it ia all about getting and staying elected to fed off of the Ottawa gravy train. They don’t give a damn about you and me and will say, do anything to stay in power. The system needs to be changed…

Okay, calling your opponent a liar when he clearly lied isn’t mudslinging. Mr. Harper’s advertising and notaleader.com are the most disguting forms of mudslinging I’ve seen. I thought the NCC was non-partisan?!

Several of the bloggers have referred to the need to concentrate on policies, but all to many of the blogs take strong partisan positions, with little emphasis on policies, and more on mud slinging. Some of the policies to be considered, in no particular order, are:

Arts - Do we not all exercise a form of censorship when we decide what arts we wish to patronise, and what we don’t. Should our Government, acting on our behalf, do no less, when spending our money. Art that is sufficiently vibrant has no need to dip into the public trough. My favourite would be to stop funding what I see as a centrist, left wing, broadcaster.

Health Care - Can we afford to keep increasing our spending, with very little accountability. We are, I believe, second, on a per capita basis, in the world for spending on health care, but far lower when it comes to outcomes. Is there a better way of funding this.

Environment - Again how much needs to be done, and what is the the most cost efficient way of doing it? There is not even overall agreement on whether global warming is taking place, let alone how much such warming, if any is man made. What would the cost/benefit be from spending $10 or $100 billion on the environment? Should the eastern provinces, the so called “Central Canada” tax the s**t out of Alberta to ease their consciences. Maybe we should, instead, levy high taxes on the Ontario auto industry!

Military - Do we want a strong military, able to take effective action to protect Canadian interests, or do we want to opt out and let other countries bear the responsibility for our security? How effective is our current military spending? We should make sure we are getting value for money out of what we do spend.

Taxation - This ties in with getting the best value for our dollar and not undertaking useless or ineffective projects, even if they may buy votes, or in some extreme cases, line the pockets of political parties or individual politicians and bureaucrats. Instead of saying “the government should pay for it” we should be saying “the taxpayer should pay for it” or better yet “the taxpayer SHOULDN’T pay for it”

Leadership - Who would be the best leader for Canada?

Economy - To me this is the most important. without a strong economy, without a system that encourages individual initiative, with a system that tries to prop up the sunset industries, we will have high unemployment, pauperised citizens, and failing support systems. Canadians can, and do, compete on the world stage when given the opportunity, so lets have a system that encourages this, rather than one that is designed to reduce everyone to the lowest common denominator.