The day after Stephen Harper promised to scrap controversial culture taxes, artists gathered at Simcoe Park in Toronto to protest job cuts in their industry.
The rally, organized by members of ACTRA and the Writer's Guild of Canada, was meant to highlight the economic benefits that come from investing in the home-grown film industry.
Calling themselves "a bunch of ordinary Canadians," protesters spoke about the financial side of their work
"Culture is something that creates jobs," argued screenwriter Dennis McGrath (pictured).
"Culture has become an election issue in this election. We're not the ones that brought it up. So long as it's on the agenda, we want to get the true information out there and not just deal with the disinformation out there."
The best way to help the film industry, he argued, is with investment.
"People talk about hand-out to the culture in this country. They're not hand-outs," he claimed.
"From the Conference Board of Canada to StatsCan, every study they do shows when you invest in the arts in the country, it's a really good investment. A better investment than the auto industry in terms of the numbers of it creates and the trickle-down to various people.
"[There are] 1.1 million people working in arts in this country, about 7 per cent of our gross domestic product. That's a huge industry. Not something that's a luxury and something that deserves to be invested in because it's a good return on the investment."
As part of the Conservative platform released Tuesday, Harper vowed to end the change to film and television tax credits that would have allowed government to disqualify certain productions.
Though many in the arts community supported it, the announcement did not please everybody.
Charles McVety, an evangelical leader who has bragged about his supposed influence over Harper, suggested the Conservatives were just doing it for votes.
tax provision, suggested Tuesday's move was little more than a desperate play for votes.
"Unfortunately I think the prime minister is pandering to some vocal people and in turn abandoning his conservative base," he explained.
"Now you have four parties that are all socially left so who do you vote for?
"When you abandon your principles on one issue, people don't believe you'll maintain other principles and Stephen Harper fought for these issues over an extended period of time and then the polling numbers go down and he rolls over," he argued.
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