Harper afraid to repeat his ignorant remarks in French. Michel Rivard responds anyway.

For those not following the lead-up to the Canadian general election: Our fear-mongering leader recently cut funding for the arts (I'll spare you the details) and backed this up with a few patronizing and ignorant remarks about people who care about such things.  From The National Post:

"I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV and see a gala of a bunch of people at a rich gala ... all subsidized by the taxpayers - claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know those subsidies have gone up - I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people," Mr. Harper told reporters.

Significantly, Harper, who is reasonably bilingual and usually doesn't hesitate to speak French, refused to repeat these comments in the language of most of the "ordinary people" of Quebec.

So, for his Philistine, narrow, meanness, I think he deserves this YouTube video which has already had over 100,000 views and is described by The Post as "the most talked-about political ad of the Quebec campaign".

Latest poll: "Last night's tracking showed a noticeable jump in Bloc support in Quebec coinciding with attacks on Stephen Harper's views and comments related to culture." - CPAC - Nanos Tracking

Comments

[don nich]

I watched the video and passed it along to many friends. I was good for laugh, but it illustrates the lack of reality that exists within the So called "Canadian Arts Community". Do the artists of this country really believe that EVERYTHING they do should be accepted simply because the are Canadian and doing it in Canada? I am an active member of the arts community and am ashamed at some of the crap that is being presented as "Canadian Art". I believe strongly in the need for experimentation and new ideas in all forms of art. Where I disagree, is when self-absorbed experimental artists insist that they should be compensated by the public. There are more than enough rich left-wing supporters of the arts to fund these people. Traditionally this is how avante garde art was promoted. Patrons of specific art genres. These patrons gave because they wanted to. Canadian artists today seem to be saying that every citizen should be a patron and be forced to support them. Wrong. So very wrong. And it is harmful the concept of how culture should work. Culture should evolve in society. It should not be legislated into existence unless you agree to allow Governments to legislate it out of existence. You can't ask someone for money and then tell to mind their own business.