Dear Ms. Clark:

You are embarrassed about the hockey riots in Vancouver? Who is surprised? Our young people and every healthy society needs more than testosterone and beer: the  people of B.C. need the moderating influence of Arts and Culture. When governments practice “cultural apartheid” against families and kids in arts and culture, then sooner or later you will see the crudification of society with predictable consequences.

What am I talking about? The fact that B.C. has the second lowest support to the arts in Canada! The fact that B.C. spends  600 million dollars on a new roof for a sports facility while cutting a modest grant to the B.C. Arts Council to the bone! The fact that the Federal Government has grossly discriminated against Canadian kids in the arts for five years, and only a week ago reversed this appalling discrimination in the new budget. The senior government Canada, in its wisdom, has made a momentous decision: that kids, that families who prefer the arts are now equal to families and kids in sports! Hurray!

I appeal to you to heed the leadership of senior government and take a hard look at B.C.’s up to now discriminatory policy against the arts. With the hundreds of millions of dollars for that new roof you could have given grants to 200 communities to build modest arts/culture/community centers throughout B.C. and do some real good for families and young people in B.C.

Good luck for your by-election and I hope you will bring more women into your cabinet.

Sincerely yours, (Mr.) Sigurd Sabathil

720 Gardner Lane

Bowen Island, B.C. V0N 1G0

604-947-0440

PS: I could tell you more horror stories how other levels of government discriminate against people in the arts, for example how the GVRD (now Metro) ruled that arts and culture have no place in recreation”. !