July 10th, 2008
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This news item is more than a year old. Links, graphics, content, medical information, and statistics may be out of date. We invite you to search, visit our homepage, or contact us to find more current information on the topic you're looking for.Du Maurier Arts Council close to final days
The Globe and Mail - Page R10
Saturday, August 30, 2003
Montreal -- The Du Maurier Arts Council is expected to announce next week at a media conference in Montreal that it's ending its 32-year run. A division of Imperial Tobacco Canada, the council has bankrolled close to 700 arts and culture organizations in its history, disbursing more than $80-million across the country. However, the full effect of the federal government's ban on tobacco advertising and sponsorship takes hold in October, rendering the arts council obsolete.
The council, however, is not going down without a fight, it appears. Last year, it filed a challenge to the ban's legality in the Quebec Court of Appeal. And late this week, it released 14 press releases in two days detailing province-by-province and in some cases, city-by-city, breakdowns of the assistance tobacco money has provided. It also enlisted Boris Brott, the noted Canadian conductor and artistic director of the Brott Music Festivals, to say "the disappearance of this funding would have a disastrous effect on programs from coast to coast."
Imperial Tobacco President and CEO Robert Bexon will outline what he sees as the arts council's future at a meeting in Ottawa Sept. 4. Staff