Justin Trudeau Announces $500 Million in Aid for Arts and Culture

The funding will go towards artists and organizations struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic
Justin Trudeau Announces $500 Million in Aid for Arts and Culture
As Canada continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, various financial lifelines are being thrown to both individuals and businesses. Now Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced $500 million will go directly to support Canadians who work in the arts, culture and sports sectors.

The announcement came this morning during Trudeau's daily briefing, with the prime minister saying the money would directly impact artists, as well as various organizations, directly affected by the ongoing pandemic

At this point, though, the specifics on how the aid money will be rolled out is unclear. It's also unclear when the funds will be made available.

As previously reported, the Canadian arts community has been hit hard by the ongoing COVID-19 lockdown, with many organizations and artists struggling to stay afloat.

Not only has the live music sector suffered from countless tour and festival cancellations, but multiple Canadian record stores have voiced their concern on the truly devastating impact the pandemic is having on their business. Record labels have also been faced with the tough decision of whether it's a financially feasible to release new albums during these troubling times.
In addition to the heritage funding, Trudeau announced this morning that aid money could go towards aiding the environment, with a total of $1.7 billion dedicated to cleaning up orphan wells in Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, as well as aiding the arts and culture sectors and helping those in rural Canada.

"Our goal is to create immediate jobs in these provinces while helping companies avoid bankruptcy, and supporting our environmental targets," he said.

In addition to the $500 million for arts, culture and sport, the government will establish a $750 million emissions reduction fund to help both create jobs and reduce pollution. Another $75 million fund will help the offshore industry cut emissions specifically in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In addition, $962 million will go to regional development agencies to help the smaller employers in more rural areas, while $270 million will go to entrepreneurial and industrial research.