Industry Minister Tony Clement says his government had to consider “regional fairness” when doling out stimulus money to big tourism events – and that's why a gay arts festival in Montreal didn't make the cut.
The organizers of Montreal's Divers/Cité festival, which features gay and lesbian performers from around the world, said they were shocked to find out this week that their application for funding under the new program had been rejected.
They had been told by bureaucrats they had met all the rigorous criteria for their $155,000 bid – a fact not disputed by the government.
Director Suzanne Girard had initially scoffed at suggestions that ideology might be at play in handing out grants, but now says she suspects politics were involved.
After some Conservative caucus members complained last month that Toronto's Pride Week had received $400,000, junior tourism minister Diane Ablonczy lost responsibility for the file.
But Mr. Clement said Wednesday there had been an “avalanche” of applications under the $100-million Marquee Tourism Events Program and decisions had to be made.
He noted that Quebec received about 42 per cent of the total funds, roughly the same as the province of Ontario.
“I think we've been treating Montreal and Quebec very fairly, but it's also important for us to fund other things outside of Montreal, and outside of the province of Quebec, so we have some regional fairness,” Mr. Clement said in Red Deer, Alta.
Industry Minister Tony Clement.— Chris Wattie /Reuters
But Luc Fournier, director of an umbrella organization for Quebec's major international events, says the department has known from the outset that the province's festival circuit is the most powerful in the country and might scoop up a large proportion of the funds.
Just for Laughs and the Montreal International Jazz Festival received half of the Quebec total of $12-million. Only large-scale events across Canada that could prove they attract significant numbers of tourists met the criteria to apply.
“I told them many times that with the criteria they had, they wouldn't be able to fund events in the Maritimes and the Prairies, or very few,” said Mr. Fournier, of the Regroupement des evenements majeurs internationaux .
“If Industry Canada is saying that Quebec is getting more, well, with the criteria that we received we already told them that.”
Opposition critics and Ms. Girard point out there is nothing in the program's initial description that refers to regional distribution of funds.
“Was there a rule there saying that there's a certain percentage per province? I didn't hear that,” said Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez, the party's heritage critic.
“So again, they're using this excuse, because they can't say openly what they're doing, which is getting involved in the content.”
Fairness didn't seem to enter into the equation when it came to dividing up the money within Quebec, said the head of Quebec's biggest gay event.
Robert Vezina, president of the Black and Blue festival, says he can't understand why the French music festival FrancoFolies received $1.4-million in funding, when other events such as his bring in affluent, international visitors and ask for a fraction of that amount.
Black and Blue was rated second after Montreal's now defunct Grand Prix for the amount of money tourists spent per capita while in the city.
They're using this excuse, because they can't say openly what they're doing, which is getting involved in the content.— Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez
They're using this excuse, because they can't say openly what they're doing, which is getting involved in the content. Liberal MP Pablo Rodriguez
“I have nothing against FrancoFolies, but divide the pie a little bit,” said Mr. Vezina, who is waiting to hear the outcome of his application for $125,000.
“It doesn't make sense. … Gay and lesbian events are starving to death.”
The tourism events program was welcomed warmly in the festivals industry, particularly after the old sponsorship program under the Liberals basically disappeared.
Still, some have raised questions about how late the funds were distributed. Industry Canada initially said announcements would be made in the early summer, to allow events to beef up their programming and promotion.
Instead, festivals have sometimes found out in the middle of their event that they had received the funding. Divers/Cité only found out days before their event was set to begin that they would not get any money.
Mr. Clement has said the program will be reviewed as will all other programs associated with economic stimulus.
