With the June 7th provincial election fast approaching, voters will soon be making an important decision about Ontario’s future. In order to ensure CIMA members are well informed on what this could mean for the music industry, CIMA sent a letter and a survey to each political party to help shed some light on their plans to support Canadian independent music companies and artists.
Here’s what we asked “If elected, will your party”:
- Commit to continuing to invest in the Ontario Music Fund at the current funding levels?
- Commit to increasing the Ontario Music Fund with staged annual increases tied to inflation or more?
- Commit to being our voice in engaging with U.S. politicians and advocate for the elimination of the U.S. visa requirement for Canadian artists touring in the United States (full reciprocity with Canada) as Canada does for U.S. artists?
- Commit to supporting and growing Ontario’s live music sector, which drives local economies through venues, festivals, tourism and other economic drivers
- Commit to policies and funding that facilitate the creation and retention of intellectual property (music) within Ontario’s commercial music industry?
- Commit to working with the commercial music industry to develop opportunities for priority groups, including artists/entrepreneurs identifying as women, indigenous, LGBTQ+, people of colour, youth, Franco-Ontarians, etc.