"When Winston Churchill was told he might have to cut Britain's budget for the arts during World War II, he replied, `Then what are we fighting for?'"

Indeed. Where are the Arts in this electoral campaign? Where is our Culture and Heritage (and I'm not talking about free flags, here)? Why do these rate so low on the funding scale? While agriculture and industry might feed our bodies, furnaces, and cars, what is feeding our minds and souls? People rail against the Americanisation of our culture, yet how can we preserve what we have when we do not fund it, when it takes a back seat to everything else?

Show me a museum or gallery, publically funded, that is not struggling. The Manitoba Museum swoons at the idea of the funding brought in by the Royal Ontario Museum, but when that money is tied to replacing office chairs or massive construction projects, rather than cleaning and renovating existing exhibits, or funding research, what does it matter if they have more of it? If you want fancy looking museums with computer interactives, lofty ceilings, and uniformed greeters, there is the Museum of Civilisation, but there is so little strength to its content, it barely rates on Canada's museum scale. But it has funding and you can -see- it.

This article, from the Toronto Star, goes on at greater length on the issues surrounding Canada's music and theatre arts, so I encourage you to read it.

Arts and Culture should not equal tourism, nor should tourism potential equal funding. And funding should not be based on last year, but the future. This is our history, held for us, for the future, afterall. There is no easy answer for the Arts and Culture sector this coming election. It is a sector far off the map, and the parties with the greatest history of previous significant spending in it have other, flashier priorities now. But think about it; and, if your candidates come to your door, why not ask them about their parties' policies and plans for the future of Canada's Soul Food.