It's all but official that Canada's federal government will call a general election this fall (even though this same Conservative government passed a statute implementing a fixed election date more than a year from now).
There will be lots of talk about the economy, Afghanistan, and maybe even the environment, but there will probably be little attention given to the arts.
Please keep this in mind: just weeks ago, the Conservatives announced big budget cuts to arts spending.
Full disclosure: I have never before received any kind of government funding from these or any other programs for any art or music I've ever done. Neither has Caffeine Sunday. But there's no doubt that public funding for the arts should actually be going the other way, for all our sakes.
When you get a phone call or a knock on the door from a candidate, please do us all a favour and ask the candidate where they stand on funding the arts, and what they think of the cuts announced just weeks before an election call.
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