Arts Groups Caught in Government Vacuum

(Aired on March 9, 2010)

We shouldn't be surprised that the provincial government is cutting money to the arts and culture. When budget cuts come, arts and culture are always the first cut. The government has reduced the amount it gives from gaming revenue by over $30-million this year, mainly to groups which target adults. This, however, is a bit deceiving because theatre and cultural organizations like theatre groups reach out to all ages.

It's a sad commentary when this type of thing happens. The arts are such a valuable part of our mosaic and to cut their funding leaves a gaping hole in that important part of our life.

It's difficult, of course, to rationalize spending money on the arts and culture and reducing money for health and education. Obviously that's a pretty tough sell. But the reality is that government wastes so much money on unnecessary expenditures that if someone really took a careful look at spending, they could probably find enough money for the arts as well as health and education. Governments are like big gaping black holes in space. Money just seems to get swallowed up inside some big space and no one knows where it goes and how to stop it. Imagine, if you will, this giant vacuum cleaner going around the province just sucking up your money as it goes by. That's government. Not just the province, but the feds as well.

I don't imagine we'll ever get a clear handle on where our tax dollars go. I think we all fully realize how much it costs to run health services and education. But there is so much that seems to be taken in that never seems to be accounted for.

I often wonder what would happen if we just shut down all our government offices and let people fend for themselves. Not a practical solution, but we had this thing called zero based budgeting become the watchword a few years ago. Maybe that's what we should do with government services. Start from scratch and see where it leads. I'll bet we'd be pleasantly surprised at what we could do away with.