so, specifically, what programs are going to be cancelled?  

This is not a shocking development, though it is very sad. I guess Gordon Scandal doesn't believe that arts have a place in his "best place on earth."

The worst part is hearing them lay it on thick about how they are doing it for the poor hungry children.

We've had the worst child poverty in the country for several years running, and they haven't cared one bit about it.

The only time the Lieberals care about such things is when they see an opportunity to pit one public good against another in the service of their twisted ideology.

How come we can afford hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks for the oil and gas industry - but not a few million for arts groups?

This budget is a new low for the Lieberals.  

Perhaps there should be an 81% reduction in the participation of affected BC's amateur and professional performers in the opening ceremonies and subsequent Olympic celebrations?
Getting what you pay for should be something the Liberals and the anti-culture groups should understand.
 

Why should taxpayers foot the bill for arts funding when other services (health, education, public safety) need to be supported? There's only a finate amount of money to go around. I like arts and culture, but I feel I should pay for it out of my own pocket.  

Arts funding should be increased during an economic downturn, not diminished. For every dollar invested in the arts, the BC government gets back $1.38 in taxes. No other province in Canada is decreasing arts funding because they know it's a good stimulus for the economy. Some provinces have actually increased arts funding during this time. What's wrong with BC??  

Seems to me that the arts are such an integral part of all the other sectors, there should be funding in each sector dedicated to the artistic in each.
Try spending a day without anything having to do with" art". You wouldnt be doing much.
The Liberals just loooove to have "the arts" as a separate "special interest" group that can be sectioned off and cut from the budget. It makes it far more easy for them to justify. The arts isnt just about "going to the opera "
It is integral to health, to education, (yes-even to sports!) and to all other sectors. It is about the creative in everyone and it informs us in infinate ways as to who we are as "a culture" (not to mention the infinite benefits gained....).
... and then there are all those places in the province who were encouraged to develop "cultural tourism" (since we have no manufacturing or resource base left)). Oh- I forgot- they just nixed Tourism BC too. Nice going folks. There goes the economy....
 

"Why should taxpayers foot the bill for arts funding when other services (health, education, public safety) need to be supported?"

Because it is not an either/or choice. We could afford a $220 million tax break for banks in 2008, but in 2009 we can't afford to fund school lunch programs and fringe festivals?

That's horse shat, boy.

http://www.tted.gov.bc.ca/MIT/ShowcasingBC/English/Pages/BusinessClimate...

They call it "$220 million to phase out the existing capital tax on financial institutions and replace it with a minimum tax"




 

Ouch...the harbinger of doom came when they test drove the budget before the election. The BC electorate saw what was coming and endorsed the direction anyway. The arts community were relatively complacent and conciliatory through the process. I guess we get the government we deserve after all. What now? A boycott of the Olympics comes to mind as that is arguably where a lot of the "discretionary" funding is heading.  

This news is appalling and a national embarrassment. There is no recognition that arts and culture bring tourists to the province and represent it on the world stage; just the prehistoric idea that art is a drain on public funds.  

It is time for a call of non-participation by artists in the olympic ceremonies. ART STRIKE 2010!  

Liberals can't get it right as party has made homelessness a household word.
And child proverty and seniors for sure and now the Liberals are hitting on the Arts community and sports and rec dosen't surprise me. As its a government that has made of point of scheming off the Ministries as money allotted for programs makes it way into general revenue.  

The Liberals have proven they are idealogues of the most fanatic kind, hewing to Neocon ideology even against all facts. The fact is that the arts are a major economic stimulus, contributing $5.2 billion to the BC economy annually. The 2008 GDP for forestry and mining was $3.8 and $4.3 billion respectively. Yet when the timber markets crashed, Victoria was ready to rush in with 'transitional job funding' for forestry workers. Bill Usher, Director of Kicking Horse Culture in Golden, BC, points out that in its fee-for-service contract with the municipality, the arts council there returns 3-4 times the amount it receives in funding from the city. So who is subsidizing whom?  

It's just the beginning. If you want to know what's in store for BC just go to the Fraser Institute web site and read. There will be no arts, or sports, or theatre, or social service, or public health care. Nothing! All gone! Privatized! Everything will be for profit. And it’s what BC deserves. After all, BC has voted Campbell in for the last 9 years. We must welcome all theses changes as this is what we voted for. Isn’t it? Quit your crying and get with the program. Ooooops, that program was cancelled.  

It was a new and prosperous BC, in the era of the Liberals, were all citizens were taken care of. And I'm positive it is just that, prosperous in BC only problem it is only for a few and no one voted for that. Infact voters were told just the opposite as media failed to tune up the public to the up coming events. Its more whats being shoved down everyone's throats. Will things change? God I hope so! Don't you?  

How is it that back in the 50s and 60s businesses have been making profits, new businesses were starting every day training and employing skilled people who had wages they could buy houses, vehicles, feed their families from their wages? Executives were making $25 or 50,000 and were happy with it, we had tariffs on imports. There were no homeless, no foodbanks. Canada was becoming wealthier and more self sufficient by the day, and the standard of living was going up all the time?

Now we have a "globally competitive free economy and free trade". The biggest lie in history. Our manufacturing has been destroyed, and were selling the country from under our feet, while claiming "growth", while we're being colonized and enslaved with the power of imaginary money, created from the blue by some banks.

The economy has been handed over to bolshevik international mega corporations who are stealing and destroying everything and everybody while raking in incredible profits? Their executives are stealing tens of millions from the public's pocket in wages, but they can't afford to pay taxes, or decent wages and are blackmailing governments for more of the same, or else........

Does any idiot, apart from the priesthood of the Money God, the so called "economists", still believe that this is what an economy should be about ?

Have people gone completely mad to permit a fascist ruling sector to screw them and ruin their lives ?

Ed Deak, Big Lake
 

Years ago I was offered an arts grant that launched my CAREER as a full time artist. Now showcasing my art all over the world. If you don't think that arts money is an investment in BC you're crazy.  

If the Arts can't sustain themselves, then is there really demand? Maybe health care and education and road infrastructure, among other things, are more important to ALL British Columbians, not just artists and their patrons. Seek corporate sponsorship and stop relying on public funds.