The fate of this year’s Divers/Cité festival in Montreal was up in the air on Wednesday after the federal government said it would not approve $155,000.00 of funding for the event.An Industry Canada spokeswoman says there are just too many worthwhile events and not everyone can get government funding.
That's the e-mail explanation from Christiane Fox on why the Conservative government rejected a bid for funding by a major Quebec arts festival geared towards gays and lesbians.
The directors of Divers/Cite in Montreal say they were told by bureaucrats that their funding request met all the criteria, and the final approval was with industry minister Tony Clement.
Divers/Cite features gay and lesbian performers from around the world, and brings in around 55,000 visitors. The festival runs from Jul. 26 until Aug. 2, 2009. (CTV) (thanks Coup)
2 comments:
Funding PRIDE events in large urban centres is a no brainer. The numbers are there to prove it - Divers/Cite in 2006: 135 000 visitors; 28.7% of these are tourists generating 10.5M in direct revenue for the Province of Quebec. Toronto Pride Economic Pride Assessment 2006: 46M in direct tourism revenue. I can't think of many other festivals that generate that kind of revenue, putting money back into the community with such a great return on investment. Unfortunately, the governing Tories seem hellbent on undoing the great strides Canada has made to become reputed for its forward thinking and for being modern and progressive. I don't just mean as far as LGBT issues are concerned, but with their economic, political, diplomatic and environmental decisions.
Make no mistake, today's Tories are just yesterday's Reform Party. I had hoped they were harmless enough, held to minority status, but apparently I was wrong. Help us Obi Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope.
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