TORONTO – The Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA) is urging Canadians to vote for candidates who will promote and protect Canadian culture if elected.
At a press conference Thursday in Toronto, ACTRA described culture as “not only critical to our national identity, it is an important engine of Canada’s economy”, noting that it contributes more than $85 billion to the GDP and 1.1 million jobs.
“The economy and jobs are top-of-mind for most Canadians in this election, so we’re asking them to support candidates who will fight for culture and artists,” said Ferne Downey, ACTRA national president, in a statement. “When we’re talking about culture we’re talking about good jobs.”
After polling the parties with a questionnaire that contained questions about copyright legislation, foreign ownership and tax treatment for artists, ACTRA said that “the NDP provided the most fulsome and satisfactory answers, followed by the Liberals and the Green Party. The Conservatives have not responded.”
