Artists fear Tory majority

Liberal, Green, and NDP candidates critical of Conservative arts program cuts

By Dan Huyghebaert, The Uniter (University of Winnipeg)

WINNIPEG (CUP) — Jamis Paulson, associate publisher of Turnstone Press, thinks more cuts will come if the
Conservatives eam a majority in the upcoming federal election.

“Tt will be interesting to see how it all shapes out,” he said. “Are they going to attack the Canada Council for the
Arts next?”

Some artists predict the Conservatives’ recently announced funding cuts to the arts are a sign of things to come,
yet culture figures prominently in other parties’ platforms.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts estimates the Conservative government has cut $60-million worth of
program funding since April this year. The majority of programs cut fell under the Department of Canadian Henttage.

“We're not talking about controversial stuff,” said Winnipeg visual artist Derek Brueckner, noting that one
of the programs cut was the Canadian Memory Fund, which has a budget of $11.5 million and was used for digital
archiving.

“The government is basically saying: “We’re not going to support any kind of culture,” he said.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper told CBC the programs cut were ineffective and that government has increased
funding for the arts overall.

Bran Timlick, the Green Party candidate for Winnipeg’s Charleswood-St. James-Assiniboia riding, calls the
cuts a form of censorship.

“They're manipulating the arts to only leave programs that they support,” he said.

The Green Party promises to increase funding to the Canada Council for the Arts and CBC, and to increase
support for community arts programs.

Anita Neville, the Liberal candidate for Winnipeg South Centre, says her party would restore all the cuts.

“They have a complete disregard for the importance of art,” she said of the Conservatives.

Pat Martin, NDP candidate for Winnipeg Centre, accuses the Conservatives of disregarding the importance of
the arts.

“T condemn the Conservatives for their thinly veiled attempt at social engineering by editorializing what arts to
support,” he said.

“They should support the economic engine that is the arts industry,” Martin added.

He supports an income averaging initiative for artists over a five-year period, as well as having their first
$50,000 of income be tax-free.

Some groups believe governments shouldn’t be funding arts in the first place.

“We support a consumer-based approach to funding the arts,” said Colin Craig, provincial director of the
Canadian Taxpayers Federation. “If Canadians paid less in taxes, there would be more funds to donate to arts causes
that they support.”

Efforts to reach Conservative Winnipeg MP Steven Fletcher were not retumed by press time.

   

 

 

 

 

Amanda Seyfried

Yes, the girl who could forecast the
weather by feeling herself up. Where
can you really go from there? In
Seyfried’s case, pretty damn far. Since
her groundbreaking role as Karen Smith
in Mean Girls, Seyfried did a few
television appearances in House, Law
& Order and CSI before landing her
own lead with the new television series
Big Love on which she plays Sarah
Henrickson. On top of this she has had
some supporting roles in Nine Lives,
Alpha Dog and Solstice which lead to
her role in her career-making feature
film: Mama Mia! The (somehow)
immensely popular 2008 film adaptation
of the musical is accompanied by a
series of annoying ABBA songs and
features Amanda as the lead character
name Sophie Sheridan. Since starring
in the film, Seyfried has received

rave reviews from co-stars like Meryl
Streep and made several talk show
appearances, not to mention signed on
to do a few more movies.

   

 

 

Lacey Chabert
Dare I say she was the smartest of

the original Mean Girls three? Lacey
Chabert was initially on Party of Five
before landing her oh-so-compelling
role as Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls
and is now keeping a relatively low
profile. Chabert has done a number of
one-episode appearances on different
television shows and smaller movies
such as Ghost Whisperer and What If
God Were the Sun? It seems she has also
taken a liking to being the voice behind
certain animated characters in the video
games Power Eons: Super Legends,
Sonic the Hedgehog and Quantum
Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey. As
well, she is now the voice of Gwen in
the popular cartoon The Spectacular
Spider-Man which just recently debuted
in 2008. What’s more, she graced the
cover of Maxim for their January 2007
issue...and even I have to admit, she
looked pretty smokin’.

   

 

 

 

Lindsay Lohan

Since starring in Mean Girls as the

Lindsay has managed to smear herself
across every tabloid on the shelf—and
not in a good way either. Lohan has
been involved in a number of traffic
infractions in 2004-2007, some of
which were blatantly linked to the

use of alcohol and cocaine. These
“incidents” led to one day in jail, ten
days of community service, as well as
three stints in different rehab facilities.
Her most recent stay at Cirque Lodge
Treatment Centre even helped her
find a boyfriend; if that’s not fate, I
don’t know what is. Unfortunately,
that relationship couldn’t weather

the Hollywood storm, and Lindsay
moved on to greener pastures, so to
speak. Beginning in 2008, media
outlets exposed her current, speculated
relationship with female DJ Samantha
Ronson, who by all accounts has been
a positive influence on Lindsay’s wild
ways.

 

quiet and homely new girl from Africa,

 

 

 

Rachel McAdams

Canadian actress Rachel McAdams

has gone nowhere but up since her

role as Regina George in Mean Girls.
McAdams has since starred in The
Family Stone and more notably in The
Notebook. Rachel began a relationship
with her hunky Canadian Notebook
co-star Ryan Gosling; the two of them
even won an MTV award for “Best
Kiss” in The Notebook, and if you’re a
girl, you know exactly which scene it
is. McAdams has turned down several
big roles in the last few years such as
Vesper Lynd in the most recent James
Bond flick, as well as unknown roles in
The Hulk and The Dark Night to pursue
“other projects.” What projects, nobody
really knows, since it seems none have
made it big. McAdam’s and Gosling’s
relationship has been “off” for the last
several months, although as of late they
have been photographed getting cozy in
public and are reportedly back together.
Notebook lovers rejoice!

 

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