Harper: Arts Funding a Niche Issue
I mentioned this a little while ago: Stephen Harper has cut $45 million from the Canadian Arts. When confronted with the enormous cut, Stephen remarked (from CTV):
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper defended slashing $45 million from the arts budget and dismissed mounting criticism by calling it a “niche” issue that doesn’t resonate with “ordinary” Canadians.
In his strongest statements to date over the cuts, Harper said regular Canadians see a “bunch of people, you know, at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren’t high enough, when they know those subsidies have actually gone up.”
Besides the fact that he’s belittling the Canadian arts world, he sounds like a vindictive child: if you complain and make fun of me, I’ll take away your money!
One Response to “Harper: Arts Funding a Niche Issue”
The best part is that he was immediately asked to repeat his answer in French for the Quebec media and his response was much more benign and less dismissive of artists.