Conservatives fail to stand up for culture

The NDP is calling on the Conservatives to stop ignoring the importance of Canada’s cultural sector in wake of CRTC decisions that could impact Canadian jobs.

“We’re deeply concerned about these major changes to Canadian content rules. These rules imposed without warning could hurt Canadian and Quebec cultural productions,” said NDP Heritage critic Pierre Nantel (Longueuil – Pierre-Boucher). “There would be no Rick Mercer or Xavier Dolan or Jean-Marc Vallée if it hadn’t been for these Canadian content rules which are in the spirit of the Broadcasting Act. The minister doesn’t seem to understand that we’re talking about our heritage here.”

The cultural sector represents more than 100,000 jobs in Canada and contributes billions to the Canadian economy. Producers and artists have raised concerns that the federal government isn’t keeping pace with changes in the media landscape.

“The Conservatives have shown that they don’t understand the importance of the cultural sector not just to our economy but to our cultural identity which is what makes us distinct when compared to our neighbours,” said Nantel “They’ve done nothing to adapt to the new digital environment and help Canadian productions succeed.”