rabble columns: "The pettiness of the Conservative government in cutting off money for artists who want to go on an airplane trip is shameful. It is Canadian small-mindedness worthy of the 1950s. You know, the era before Canada began to grow interesting, to others and to itself.The government has quietly cut one program after another this week. No more money for the Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program, which helped more than 500 small arts organizations across Canada. No more money for the Trade Routes scheme, which helped fund the wonderful and world-famous Toronto documentary film festival called Hot Docs.
It isn't hard to figure out why a government wouldn't like documentaries. They're about facts, and facts have a liberal bias, as the satirist Stephen Colbert constantly points out.
But it is hard to understand why Ottawa is making the cuts in such a shyly vicious way, not even announcing them but merely posting them on obscure web pages, breaking hearts quietly.
The Conservatives appear to despise the arts. Surely if they feel these cuts would greatly please what the party thinks is its "base," why don't they shout about the cuts from the heights of Parliament Hill?"
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