NDP calls for more support for the arts
Posted May 17, 2011 02:55:24 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The new official opposition is calling on the Harper government to do more to support the arts in Canada.
The New Democratic party wants to see an increase in funding for the Canada Council for the Arts. The party also wants tax breaks for struggling artists in the form of income averaging.
Toronto MP and singer/songwriter Andrew Cash, warns the government can’t afford to ignore an industry that brings in $85-billion dollars a year.
“This is a major economic engine here in Canada and yet we treat many of the workers in this sector, the artists themselves, in very poor ways,” said the Juno-award winner.
The party says the average income for artists in Canada is just 13-thousand dollars a year.
But the MPs at today’s news conference couldn’t say what the total costs of these initiatives would be, leading some reporters to question whether they were properly prepared for the announcement.
