Federal elections: culture to inform our choice

The leaders’ debates did not make it possible to discuss cultural issues. Of course, so many other subjects deserve to be considered: climate emergency, global health crisis, relations with First Peoples, rising cost of living …

For our part, we wish to shed light on the various parties’ commitments in the area of ​​culture because for the past year and a half we have realized even more how access to culture is fundamental for our individual and collective well-being. Our sector has proven its resilience, but it still has limits.

The culture sector has certainly been among the hardest hit by COVID. However, the challenges that threatened the very existence of culture before the pandemic have not disappeared, quite the contrary, and they deserve the immediate attention of political parties and the people of Quebec and Canada.

Even before the pandemic, the entire cultural sector urgently called for the revision of broadcasting and copyright laws, to ensure better economic support for artists, creators, artisans and producers of our cultural content, to name just these two files. The list of priorities has grown considerably with COVID (social protection of workers, targeted support for the most affected activities, stimulus measures, etc.), while the revision of broadcasting and copyright laws is more urgent than ever.

How to support our culture in the digital age? How to ensure that cultural sovereignty is maintained with increasingly powerful foreign platforms? How can we ensure that our artists and creators receive fair compensation for their work and look to the future with confidence? What place should be reserved for francophone culture, aboriginal cultures, those of official language minority communities on our airwaves and screens? How can we better finance our cultural content? What future for Radio-Canada?

This is why we are organizing a debate on culture on September 13 at noon with representatives of the five main parties: Steven Guilbeault (Liberal Party), Martin Champoux (Bloc Quebecois), Alexandre Boulerice (NDP), Steve Shanahan (Conservative Party) and Mathieu Goyette (Green Party). It will be hosted by Catherine Perrin and broadcast online at cpac.ca.

Recall that the GDP of culture exceeded $ 57 billion in 2019, or 2.7% of Canadian GDP, and in 2018 employed more than 655,000 people, far ahead of the agricultural and resource extraction sectors. natural gas, oil and gas, utilities or automotive. The health crisis has accelerated the digital transition, which has admittedly made it possible to maintain several activities, without, however, allowing profitability.

Beyond its economic contribution, culture is a source of identity and social cohesion and it plays a fundamental role in building the solidarity necessary to meet the glaring challenges which are multiplying in our societies.

Voting is the basis of our parliamentary democracy, an exercise that is certainly imperfect, but which allows each person to make a personal choice as to the vision that will influence their life. We hope that the debate on culture on 13 September will, during the current election campaign, allow this important sector to be given the attention it deserves.

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