Culture clash
While outrage in the rest of Canadaover the Conservatives’ pre-election cuts to arts and culture programs has been relegated mainly to the opinion pages and high-minded CBC panels, the debate made front-page news this week in Quebec.
On Monday morning, the Francophone media was humming about the political tone of Sunday night’s Prix Gémeaux (Quebec’s version of the Gemini Awards), where a who’s who of Quebec TV stars used their acceptance speeches to denounce Stephen Harper and his culture cuts. The onslaught continued during the commercial breaks , with new ads for the Liberals featuring Quebec stars attacking Mr. Harper and promoting Stephane Dion as “a real leader.”
At first, Mr. Harper brushed off these latest criticisms and Heritage Minister Josée Verner - conspicuously absent from the Gémeaux gala - refused to comment . But then on Wednesday morning, Quebec City’s Le Soleil ran a front page story under the headline ‘The artists are spoiled.’ The quote was from Conservative candidate Myriam Taschereau, who is running in Quebec city.
In the article, Ms. Taschereau says Quebec gets enough money from the federal government already, and she suggests that provincial Liberals could increase investment to the cultural sector “at their own discretion.” Her comments provoked more outrage from Quebec artists , and Quebec Culture Minister Christine St-Pierre, who has been outspoken about her disapproval of the cuts, was quick to respond .
The culture debate was back on the front page on Thursday, when Le Soleil scored an exclusive interview with Ms. Verner. She agreed with Ms. Taschereau’s comments and said that if the provincial Liberals think these cuts are “a catastrophe,” they can increase their own funding.
Ms. Verner went on to argue that voters she’s met during the campaign haven’t said a word to her about the culture cuts, that she’s had “zero telephone calls” on the subject and that most people have told her to “Keep up the good work!”
In his column in Le Soleil on Thursday, Gilbert Lavoie condemned the Conservatives’ handling of the culture issue even went so far as to suggest that Ms. Taschereau’s comment about spoiled artists could be enough to derail the Conservative campaign. On the same day, Pierre Cayouette of l’Actualité called Ms. Verner’s justification for standing behind the cuts “the lowest kind of populism.” But Journal de Montreal columnist Richard Martineau agreed with Ms. Verner’s claim that Quebeckers don’t care about funding artists. “Ordinary people” who “work and pay taxes and have to wait in line at restaurants like everyone else,” he wrote, are tired of hearing complaints from artists and TV stars.
Meanwhile, this satirical video about the culture cuts, called “Culture in Peril,” received more than 38,000 views within its first 24 hours online.
Defending Duceppe
Gilles Duceppe spent much of the previous week defending himself against criticisms from former Bloc Quebecois MP Jacques Brassard, who, in an article in La Presse, called the Bloc an “NDP clone.” Then on Monday, La Presse published more of the same, with a front-page piece quoting five former Bloc MPs who say the party has lost its “raison d’être” and is now a “useless” entity, overly influenced by powerful trade unions.
On Tuesday, La Presse editor André Pratte followed up with a column questioning Mr. Duceppe’s appeals to federalist voters and warning Quebeckers that “every vote for the Bloc is a de facto reinforcement of the sovereignist camp.”
But in Le Devoir (the separatist counterweight to the federalist La Presse), it was a different story. On Monday, it ran a letter signed by eleven former Bloc MP’s who claim that the Bloc is “more relevant than ever.”
On her blog on Monday, Voir’s Josée Legault directed readers to Le Devoir’s article and accused La Presse of going too far in its negative coverage of the Bloc, charging that “you might say La Presse has joined the campaign.” She went on to suggest that “by hitting so often and so hard on the same note, those who want to see the Bloc eat dust on the 14th of October could end up provoking the opposite reaction.”
It must be the moustache
On Tuesday, the Journal de Montreal unveiled its exclusive investigative coverage into one of the most pressing issues of the campaign: Who is the sexiest leader ?
Based on a wide range of criteria – including: “Who would give the best massages?” and “Who would you bring home to meet your mother?” – the tabloid’s expert panel named Jack Layton the sexiest leader. As one panelist put it, “he seems to have a certain sensuality.”
The Journal rounded out its coverage with analysis from political scientists and image consultants who emphasized the importance of a leader’s sex appeal. Then again, one analyst warns that too much sex appeal can work against you, citing Maxime Bernier’s demise as a warning to sexy politicians everywhere.
Blogue post of the week
La Presse’s Vincent Marissal wrote three thoughtful, well-reasoned columns this week. Then on Friday, after a day spent talking with voters in the Eastern Townships, he summed up his observations of the reality on the ground in three impressionistic, off-the-cuff lines on his election blog : “1) The Liberals are dead in the regions. DEAD; 2) The Conservatives are organized, rich and very present; 3) The Bloc are ready for a tough battle, but they’re scared.”
Special to The Globe and Mail
