> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.galleryxscarborough.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Who's In Charge? - URL: https://www.galleryxscarborough.com/ideas/whos-in-charge/ - Published: 2026-11-05T14:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-05T17:48:51.000Z - Author: Peter Marsh - Tags: Ideas, #carousel ### Provincial Cuts to Arts Funding — A Question of Priorities I was astounded this morning to read about the substantial cuts the Ontario provincial government is making to grants for cultural organizations. The announcement seemed almost a direct illustration of my previous blog about the pendulum of public opinion and government policy, swinging from one extreme to another, particularly when it comes to supporting our cultural infrastructure. These latest cuts prompted me to reflect on something that has troubled me for decades: the enormous waste of public money that governments seem prepared to tolerate while simultaneously claiming that there is insufficient funding for the arts. How much of that wasted money might have supported the cultural organizations that enrich our communities, educate our children, and contribute so much to our quality of life? ### Art Isn't Important. Roads Are Important. During my twelve years as a municipal councillor in the Parry Sound District, beginning in the late 1980s, a fellow councillor turned to me during a budget discussion and declared: **"Peter, art isn't important. Roads are important."** I have thought about that statement many times over the intervening decades, attempting to give it a fair and balanced assessment. Of course roads are important. They are essential to commerce, transportation, communication, and the everyday functioning of society. But is their importance sufficient reason to dismiss the arts? Consider ancient Rome. The Appian Way, one of Rome's great engineering achievements, was essential to the expansion and administration of the Roman Empire. It was also lined with elaborate burial monuments commissioned by citizens determined that they should be remembered long after their deaths. Roman roads were extraordinary accomplishments, and their construction contributed enormously to the empire's success. Yet when we think about the civilization of ancient Rome, what most often captures our imagination? The Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Pantheon, Trajan's Column, Hadrian's Wall, and the extraordinary achievements of Roman architecture, sculpture, and engineering. These monuments and cultural achievements have survived in our collective consciousness for nearly two thousand years. They help define how we understand Roman civilization. The roads made the empire function. Its cultural achievements helped give it an enduring identity. **A successful society needs both.** That, to me, is the fundamental weakness in my fellow councillor's argument. It was not that roads were unimportant, but that the arts were considered expendable. Unfortunately, that attitude continues to influence government decisions today. ### Government Waste and Cultural Priorities Consider the extraordinary sums of public money involved in the installation and subsequent removal of bicycle lanes in Toronto. (The City of Toronto estimated that removing the bicycle lanes would cost more than $48 million, according to an official report dated November 13, 2024) Regardless of one's opinion about the merits of bicycle lanes, the expenditure of millions of dollars installing infrastructure only to spend additional millions removing it raises serious questions about government planning, efficiency, and accountability. How many community arts organizations could have survived on even a fraction of that money? How many exhibitions, concerts, educational programs, theatrical productions, and cultural initiatives might have been supported? And this is hardly the only example of public expenditure that deserves scrutiny. We regularly witness costly reversals of government decisions, abandoned projects, administrative inefficiencies, and expenditures that appear to offer remarkably little lasting public benefit. Meanwhile, arts organizations, educational institutions, and health facilities are expected to manage with increasingly restricted resources. The contrast is difficult to justify. It is not simply a question of whether government has sufficient money. It is a question of how government chooses to spend the money it has. ### Who Is Actually in Charge? My years in municipal politics taught me another important lesson about the distribution of political power in Ontario. Each year, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario, an organization whose roots extend back to 1899, holds its annual convention to discuss issues affecting municipalities throughout the province. During my years attending these conventions, I was repeatedly struck by an underlying message: regardless of the responsibilities assigned to municipal governments, the province ultimately held the authority. The provincial government was, in effect, the senior partner. It could determine which responsibilities municipalities would undertake, which services the province would finance, and how those arrangements might change. The substantial restructuring of provincial and municipal responsibilities during the 1990s demonstrated this imbalance particularly clearly. Responsibilities and funding obligations were reassigned between the two levels of government. Municipalities found themselves dealing with altered obligations for services such as ambulance delivery, while education funding arrangements were fundamentally changed. Whatever the merits of these decisions, the municipalities had little choice but to accept the framework established by the province. It was a powerful reminder that municipal autonomy exists within boundaries determined by provincial legislation. **The province was in charge.** And that brings me back to the present controversy over arts funding. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/af/fdaf4218-084e-4f28-8a7b-22aad6749460/content/images/2026/11/Picture2.jpg) Peter Marsh 18 x 24 inches Top of The Rosseau Falls Watercolour 1984 ### The Ontario Arts Council and the Survival of Cultural Organizations During my years in Northern Ontario, the Ontario Arts Council was an enormously important source of support for cultural activities. Through its grants, small communities were able to develop arts organizations, encourage local artists, mount exhibitions, and provide cultural opportunities that might otherwise never have existed. I witnessed firsthand how modest amounts of financial assistance could produce benefits far beyond the actual dollars invested. The Ontario Arts Council has played an essential role in sustaining the cultural life of this province, particularly in communities where private sponsorship and other sources of funding are limited. Over approximately the past decade Ontario Arts Council funding is now down about ten million dollars. This while our provincial population has grown by an enormous 2.3 million people! And one more significant statistic, the consumer price index estimates a 30.9 % increase over the very same ten years! For the Ontario Arts Council itself, the gradual cuts may not be fatal. But for some of the Arts organizations supported by government funding, the consequences could be devastating. Years of volunteer effort, community involvement, artistic development, and organizational growth can be destroyed remarkably quickly when financial support disappears. And once these organizations cease to exist, rebuilding them is neither simple nor inexpensive. We should not underestimate what is being lost. ### The Arts Are Not an Optional Luxury The arts are among the brightest lights of human existence. They entertain us, educate us, challenge our assumptions, preserve our history, and help us understand ourselves and one another. They provide beauty, enjoyment, intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for creative expression. They are not merely pleasant additions to an otherwise functional society. They are essential components of a civilized one. Almost everyone participates in cultural activities in some form, whether through music, literature, theatre, film, visual art, architecture, or the many other expressions of human creativity. Yet public funding for the arts is frequently treated as discretionary, something to be reduced whenever governments decide that financial restraint is necessary. The distribution of society's wealth has been debated for centuries, often with considerable passion and sometimes with serious social consequences. Those debates are entirely justified because public spending is ultimately a reflection of what a society values. And when governments make choices that undermine cultural institutions while tolerating substantial waste elsewhere, they reveal a troubling imbalance in their priorities. ### The Pendulum Swings Again In my previous blog, I wrote about the pendulum of public opinion and political decision-making, swinging between opposing positions, sometimes with remarkably little regard for consistency or logic. The present cuts to arts funding seem another example of that phenomenon. One government recognizes the importance of cultural investment. Another decides that such expenditure is no longer a priority. Organizations are encouraged to grow, develop programs, and serve their communities, only to discover that the financial foundation upon which they depend can suddenly be withdrawn. The pendulum swings, and those least able to withstand the consequences are left to cope with the damage. I seriously doubt that most Ontarians, if presented with a clear account of the relatively modest sums devoted to supporting the arts, would favour severe reductions in that support. I suspect many would be astonished to discover how little public money is involved compared with the enormous sums routinely committed to other government priorities. But that raises the central question. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/fd/af/fdaf4218-084e-4f28-8a7b-22aad6749460/content/images/2026/11/Picture3.jpg) Peter Marsh Colonel Danforths Landscape 11 X 14 inches Watercolour 2021 ### Who is in charge? In a democracy, we like to believe that governments exist to represent the priorities and values of the people who elect them. Yet between elections, governments can make decisions that profoundly affect communities, organizations, and individuals, often without any direct opportunity for those affected to influence the outcome. The provincial government possesses the legal authority to make these decisions. But possessing that authority does not necessarily mean that every decision is wise, fair, or reflective of public opinion. The distinction between having the power to act and exercising that power responsibly is fundamental to good government. My fellow councillor believed roads were important and art was not. I believed then, and believe even more strongly today, that a civilized society must recognize the importance of both. **Roads help us get where we are going. The arts help us understand why the journey matters.** And surely the people of Ontario deserve a meaningful voice in deciding what kind of society we are building. After all, in a democracy, shouldn't the ultimate answer to the question "Who's in charge?" be: **The people of Ontario.** November 2026