It seems as though the prorogation of Parliament is all anyone can talk about these days.
We’ve heard arguments from all sides of the debate: the economic situation has changed and the government needs time to shift its priorities; prorogation slows an already painfully sluggish legislative process; Canadians will be focused on hockey in the coming month anyway.
What are our taxpayers’ dollars paying for, if not for MPs to do their job?
How the latest political manœvre will affect the country’s arts and culture community seems to be last on the media and public’s minds, but the fact is that prorogation will further hinder what little progress was made for the arts on the Hill at the end of last year.
In October, Paul Dewar, NDP MP for Ottawa Centre, called for the creation of an all-party arts caucus designed to “provide a forum for artists and people working in the culture sector to speak directly with parliamentarians from all parties,” according to his website.
The caucus is composed of 30-or-so MPs and senators from all four parties and began discussion of how to simplify federal arts funding applications in October.
True, the caucus has no legislative power, but it’s a voice for the creative class that could be heard in the House of Commons in the form of private members’ bills and eventual, actual change.
But with Parliament prorogued until March, any momentum that the caucus had built up will be circumvented.
When Parliament resumes in March, it’s not the struggle of Canadian artists that will be on MP agendas, but big issues like the budget and Afghanistan, which, far from being resolved, will have curdled over the course of the next month.
“The government has abused prorogation as a way of avoiding accountability,” Dewar said in an email interview.
“This is also delaying all the work in parliament, including the work of the all-party parliamentary arts caucus.”
Let’s not beat around the bush here – Stephen Harper’s Conservative government hasn’t endeared itself to Canada’s artistic community.
Since coming to power in 2006 the government has made a series of cuts to arts and culture programs and funding, culminating in a $45-million cut in the summer of 2008.
Sure, the government and Harper himself have tried to make concessions.
Who can forget the prime minister’s impromptu Beatles tribute at a National Arts Centre gala last year?
The surprise performance came just one year after Harper quipped that “ordinary people” don’t care about the arts and such galas were playgrounds for the elite.
The performance was a fantastic photo op, one that went a long way in painting a more human picture of the PM, but it was nothing more than that.
It didn’t funnel federal funds back into our national cultural institutions.
And it probably doesn’t mean that Harper has changed his views of Canadian artists and the work they produce.
The caucus was another such concession, a move to appease the Canadian artistic community, albeit one with a lot more worth.
Too bad it’s been blasted more or less back to ground level with no indication of when it’ll be back to where it was.
Looks like Canada’s arts community will have to wait a little while longer to be taken seriously on Parliament Hill.