Big government spending, big government bailout to poorly run corporations and big tax cuts - the impact had to be felt somewhere eventually. The Conservatives showed exactly what their priorities are, or at least where the priority is not. Culture.
This is a war on culture. Last year it was the slashing by the departments of Heritage and Foreign Affairs of arts programs that promoted Canada globally. Six months ago, the Conservatives crushed the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography because they wanted underground committee rooms. Just last week, Harper's right-wing brethren, Gordon Campbell, took the axe to the B.C. arts community. Today, the Conservative government put the nail in the coffin of the National Portrait Gallery.
According to this government, only government records should be saved for prosperity. Although, that will likely be down graded once the government decides to tackle that burdensome deficit they created. After all, archives and libraries are only high on government lists when it comes time to cut funding.
It is a shame that the former Liberal government had to dilly-dally so much that the $11 million was squandered on the renovation of the former U.S. embassy. Had the renovations continued, or if you added in the money the Harper government wasted shopping around the idea of decentralized national cultural properties, we would have a national portrait gallery by now.
But art is for the rich, not for the nation.
This government has its priorities. It is not culture. It is not the economy. It is getting tough on that declining crime rate.
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