Canadian Conference of the Arts - Media Release

LIZA FRULLA NAMED AS NEW MINISTER OF CANADIAN HERITAGE


Ottawa, July 20th, 2004 - Prime Minister Paul Martin named his new Cabinet today, and has placed the Department of Canadian Heritage in the experienced hands of Liza Frulla, MP for the riding of Jeanne-Le Ber (Québec). CCA welcomes this appointment and looks forward to working closely with Ms Frulla and her Department over the coming years.

“We are very excited by the nomination of Liza Frulla as new minister of Canadian Heritage,” says CCA National Director Jean Malavoy. “She brings to the job strong credentials and a vast experience. We wish her bonne chance in that very important portfolio. The arts are always the index of social vitality, the moving finger that records the destiny of a civilization.”

Ms Frulla was Minister of Human Resources and Social Development (formerly HRDC) in the previous short-lived Cabinet. From 1989-1998, she was a member of the Québec National Assembly and held the positions of minister of communications, minister of cultural affairs, minister of culture and communications, and minister responsible for La Francophonie. She was well-respected by her fellow ministers in the provincial government as having the ability to negotiate across political and cultural lines - a quality which will serve her well in a minority government. Ms Frulla was instrumental in the creation of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (Québec Arts Council) and the development of a cultural policy framework. She also managed to hold on to the culture department's budgets during cost-cutting periods, and is seen as a very able minister. In 1998, she left the National Assembly to host her own television show "Liza" on Radio-Canada, until 2002, when she entered the federal political arena.

CCA urges Minister Frulla to make her mark early with the cultural community by ensuring that Cabinet approval of funding to the sector starting 1 April 2005 is her first and most urgent priority. It is extremely important that the pressing need for stable, adequate, multi-year government support, in the form of a renewal and, preferably, increase of the Tomorrow Starts Today (or equivalent) funding to the sector, be clearly understood. We also hope she will champion artists’ rights, ensuring that all Canadian artists can access the benefits and advantages to those currently enjoyed by artists in Québec.

The Prime Minister also announced the appointment of Sarmite Bulte, MP for Parkdale-High Park (Ontario), to serve as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. "Given the minority situation, Parliamentary Secretaries will more than ever play a critical role as a vital two-way link between Ministers and Parliamentarians from all political parties, in helping to advance the government's legislative priorities in a constructive and responsible manner," said the Prime Minister, in a press release.

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For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
info@ccarts.ca
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