Harper’s government announced $45-million cuts to various arts and culture programs. Kory Teneycke, Harper’s communications director said that “when we find examples of programs that are clearly not meeting their objectives, without apologies we will cancel them”.
On the face of things, this makes sense. Government spending as a whole should be scrutinized regularly. Arts and culture programs are no exception. But will funds taken from under-performing programs end up supporting ‘performing’ arts and culture programs? I somehow doubt it. One representative comment posted on the Globe and Mail’s web site bluntly expressed a populist sentiment that this government may share: “..arts aren’t my priority. Let millionaire snobs buy up crappy paintings. I want my tax dollars to go where it’s most needed…”. He may express, in less refined terms, what Harper’s government actually feels about arts spending.
The usual chorus heckling the government’s decision may be justified in expressing their vehemence, but may miss an important opportunity to explain the long term impact some of those cuts (assuming that the funds will not be redirected) may have.
Just like the Butterfly effect, 
a relatively small cut, or worse still, a trend, could morph into unforeseen results impacting some of Canada’s long term ventures, such as its thriving film and media industry.
Going back as far as the 60’s and 70’s, successive governments funded cultural bodies such as the NFB (National Film Board), and one could discern in retrospect, how ’soft investments’ helped create the basis for a whole industry now generating in excess of $5-billion a year (never mind wonderfully subversive cultural expression by generations of Canadian film makers that could have been smothered by purely commercial interests).
Not every aspect of art and cultural programs brings this kind of ‘return’. But the fact that programs such as the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund ended up losing budgets should at least raise concerns about this government’s ability to think long term.
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