THE ISSUE

In Quebec, arts and culture are an essential feature of political life. In B.C. politics, arts and culture are almost invisible as election issues. The political right appends arts and culture to electioneering events such as Expo 86 and the 2010 Olympics. The political left treats culture as either elitist or marginal - hardly a source of good union jobs. B.C. consistently ranks at or near the bottom in terms of provincial funding for culture. The Alliance for Arts and Culture cites Statistics Canada numbers in claiming Quebec spends $19.32 per person while B.C. spends $1.98. That makes it harder for B.C. to leverage its fair share of federal money for culture.

Of course, it's complicated

The arts community is fractious and unable to come together and lobby for a better deal. Big arts organizations are afraid of offending government funding bodies; small arts organizations have trouble agreeing on anything.

The bottom line

Richard Florida's The Rise of the Creative Class has given a clear voice to what arts groups and artists have long argued: a rich culture attracts talented people and helps create economically vibrant communities. Would your party have a stand-alone minister of culture? Would your party increase funding to the arts, and if so by how much? What else would you do in government to strengthen arts and culture in B.C.?

THE ANSWERS

Green Party of BC

We view arts and culture as essential elements in the creation and maintenance of a vibrant society. Arts and culture enrich the social fabric of communities and preserve cultural traditions. They also make significant contributions to local economies as cultural tourism is one of the fastest growing sectors of the global tourism industry. The Green Party would increase funding to the BC Arts Council to a level comparable to that of Quebec. We would also provide funding for Aboriginal people of B.C. in order to develop an indigenous peoples' culture and arts plan. A Green Party government would establish a separate Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture to oversee these initiatives.

Democratic Reform BC Response is pending.

NDP

The NDP platform gives arts and culture a half a sentence - and it sees arts only as a component of cultural tourism. (The Greens, it should be noted, also deemed arts and culture to be worth no more than half a sentence in their platform; they say they would "develop special strategies".) In the 1990s, the NDP certainly worked hard to encourage the development of the film industry, and although most of it was runaway production there were initiatives to build a stronger indigenous component. But the NDP's record in supporting the arts is generally pretty bleak.

BC Liberals

When the Liberals took power, they axed the BC Festival of the Arts, which brought students, talented amateurs, and arts professionals together in communities throughout the province. That one big cut kept arts funding from suffering the death of a thousand small ones. Nevertheless, there were others. One key cut was to BC Film, which provides seed money to truly local productions that they can use to leverage other investments, particularly from the federal government. The BC Liberal platform declares that it restoring some basic arts funding budgets to previous levels, and the party has created several Olympics-related legacy funds. While provincial arts funding has generally been a disgrace, the grandiose platform claim that "No government in B.C. history has done more to support and promote art in all its forms, at every age, across the province, than Premier Campbell's government" seems a bit of a stretch given the cuts that occurred during its term. Still, the BC Liberals have the only meaningful platform position on arts and culture.