One of Stephen Harper's most vocal critics this election campaign has been author Margaret Atwood, who took the Conservative Leader to task for his government's cuts to arts funding.
"Mr. Harper's idea of an ordinary person is that of an envious hater without a scrap of artistic talent or creativity or curiosity, and no appreciation for anything that's attractive or beautiful," Ms. Atwood wrote in this essay for The Globe and Mail.
"Every budding dictatorship begins by muzzling the artists, because they're a mouthy lot and they don't line up and salute very easily. Of course, you can always get some tame artists to design the uniforms and flags and the documentary about you, and so forth - the only kind of art you might need - but individual voices must be silenced, because there shall be only One Voice: Our Master's Voice. Maybe that's why Mr. Harper began by shutting down funding for our artists abroad. He didn't like the competition for media space."
Last Friday, Ms. Atwood led the applause for Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe, saying she would — if she lived in Quebec — vote for the separatist party to stop Stephen Harper from forming a government.
"Yes, absolutely. What is the alternative?" she said.
We are pleased that Ms. Atwood joined us at globeandmail.com for a live discussion on Tuesday afternoon.
Ms. Atwood is one of Canada's most well-known contemporary writers. She was born in Ottawa in 1939, and studied at the University of Toronto and Harvard, and has taught English at a number of universities across Canada. Her most recent book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, was profiled in the Report on Business.
She is also the author of numerous novels, including: Oryx and Crake, The Robber Bride, The Blind Assassin, and The Handmaid's Tale, winner of the 1985 Governor-General's Award.
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Rebecca Dube, globeandmail.com:Welcome everybody, and thanks very much to Ms. Atwood for joining us today to answer questions from our readers. Ms. Atwood's excoriation of Stephen Harper and the Conservatives generated a great deal of interesting questions, so I'm going to get right to them.
Loki Wils from GTA Canada writes: I understand your frustration with Mr. Harper's Arts funding cuts (which I agree with, so let's get that out of the way). But do you really think it's a good idea to endorse a separatist? Aren't you worried about losing some of your fan base with such a public stance?
Margaret Atwood: Dear Loki: Endorsing the Bloc in swing ridings in Quebec that would otherwise go to Harper is in fact key to preventing a majority Harper government. You are right, from a selfish point of view it's not wise and may make some people mad at me. In fact it has. But I'm willing to risk that for something I believe in so strongly. As Mr. Duceppe has said, separatism will not be decided in the House of Commons. Meanwhile he stands ready to do his duty to the values Quebec and many other Canadians share.
Brad Reddekopp from Hazelton, British Columbia Canada writes: Muzzling the artist is not the same as declining to fund the artist. Why should art be dependent on my tax dollars? Are the artists not good enough to survive without my being coerced to pay for their efforts?
