Gord Perks - NDP

Gord lives among the artists of Queen St W and recognizes what an asset they are to the riding, our city and, ultimately, Canada. Both Gord and the NDP are committed to supporting the arts in general and Canadian arts in particular.

The NDP believes that our arts, culture and media are vital to preserving our cultural sovereignty and independence as a nation. We will continue to fight for the development of arts and culture policies that nurture this sector as a vital economic engine for Canada, our cities and communities.

Canadian content requirements for all broadcasters were originally introduced as an effort to develop Canadian TV production capacity, and to stem the overwhelming dominance of prime time TV by American programming. The changes in 1999 which redefined the content requirements for prime-time created an influx of US content, and caused a serious decline in Canadian drama production.

The NDP thinks a review of these changes is long overdue. We agree that the CRTC should be directed to review the 1999 television policy for the exhibition of priority programming in prime time and set firm content and spending requirements for broadcasters.

Question 1.

New Democrats will provide increased funding for the Canada Council for the support of artists and ensure that the government follows through on November’s Canada Council funding announcement. We need to make certain that the Council’s funding for art and artists remains stable and accessible.

Question #2

The NDP believes that our arts, culture and media are vital to preserving our cultural sovereignty and independence as a nation. We will continue to fight for the development of arts and culture policies that nurture this sector as a vital economic engine for Canada, our cities and communities.

New Democrats will strengthen the status of Canada’s artists by:

• Introducing a system of tax averaging to provide fair and equitable tax treatment for Canadian artists.
• Building on a model in Quebec, introduce an exemption for the first $30,000 on copyright and certain royalty income.
• Protecting children in the arts.