Singer Celine Dion is popular with Qubec audiences and one of the province's biggest cultural exports. (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

Since the federal government’s $44.5 million cuts to cultural programs were made public in August, artists in Quebec have undertaken a high-profile campaign against the Conservative government. At a protest in downtown Montreal, Prime Minister Stephen Harper was compared to Hitler. Culture en peril (Culture in peril), a satirical YouTube video by popular singer Michel Rivard and actor Stéphane Rousseau (Les invasions barbares), portrays the Conservatives as a party of unilingual religious fundamentalists. Pollsters now believe the Bloc Québécois is on an upswing, because Quebecers are afraid the Conservatives don’t care enough about the arts.

As North America’s largest Francophone minority, Quebecers are keenly aware of their cultural vulnerability. But it’s debatable whether they care more than the average Canadian about government-funded culture.

What hasn’t been talked about much outside la belle province is that many ordinary Quebecers believe the creative class — specifically those who receive federal subsidies to do their work ― is complaining too much. After a number of performers spoke out at the televised French-language TV awards gala Les Gemeaux in early September, Quebec City Conservative candidate Myriam Taschereau called artists spoiled children. If blogs, letters to the editor and call-in shows are any indication, many agree with her.

Shortly after the Gemeau show, Richard Martineau, a columnist in the conservative, nationalist tabloid Journal de Montreal — North America’s most popular French-language daily — said his readers were fed up. "I’m not sure if artists are aware of this, but many ordinary people (who pay their taxes in total anonymity and who have to wait in line like everyone else to get a table at a restaurant) are starting to get sick of hearing the showbiz class complain in front of the cameras," he wrote. When Harper made similar comments a few days later, he was accused by the Bloc and the NDP of being disconnected from art, artists and Quebec nationalists. But Harper may have been more on target than his critics believe.

Despite English Canada’s view that Quebec is more artsy and left-leaning than, say, Ontario or Manitoba, there is a good chunk of the population here who would share opinions with Conservative voters in Western Canada. The Quebec protests against the recent arts cuts pale in comparison to the demonstrations organized to support Quebec City shock-jock Jeff Fillion, who was forced off the air by the CRTC in 2004. A host on CHOI-FM, Fillion and his mix of conservative, anti-elite populism made his the top-rated program in the Quebec City area. After the CRTC withdrew CHOI’s license — because of complaints about Fillion’s abusive style — roughly 50,000 people took to the streets of Quebec City; 7,000 travelled to Ottawa to demonstrate on Parliament Hill. Over 200,000 signed a petition to keep Fillion on the air.

"The debate [the artists] want to have about culture isn’t happening," says Université de Laval communications professor Florian Sauvageau, who is currently working on a documentary about 21st century journalism with filmmaker and author Jacques Godbout. "Their argument works for those who are interested in high culture and tune into Radio-Canada, particularly the radio, but not necessarily others. I don’t think it’s reaching that far beyond the elites."

Arts groups protest against the Harper government's plans to cut a number of programs aimed at helping Quebec's artistic community. (Peter McCabe/Canadian Press)

Raymond Legault, the head of the Union des artistes (UDA), Quebec’s largest actors union, admitted at a press conference last week that he was surprised by the backlash against les artistes, as they are referred to here. "It’s difficult to understand, because normally Quebecers listen to and support their creators," Legault told me.

Why are so many Quebecers angry with their so-called "creators," traditionally revered as the driving force in the fight to protect Quebec Francophone culture? The public’s lack of sympathy may be due to the fact that Quebec has such a well-fed and highly visible celebrity class of TV and film stars; they certainly don’t appear to need any help from the state.

The public’s impatience with protesting artists may also simply be a matter of taste. Many Quebec culture producers have a deep connection to their audience and thrive with little, if any, support from the government. Think of Céline Dion or the Festival western de St. Tite, a massive celebration featuring rodeos and country dancing that draws over 500,000 annually and has been going strong for over 40 years. (This year, for the first time, St. Tite received a federal subsidy.)

While indigenous Quebec Francophone culture is complex, there are two broad currents: one is highbrow and the other unabashedly populist. Nothing demonstrates this more than the province’s two main broadcasters. Radio-Canada, which has a 15 per cent audience share, is viewed by many as the mouthpiece for arty, high-minded liberals who live in a collection of hip, tony, downtown Montreal neighbourhoods derisively referred to as the "République du Plateau." The privately owned, American-style TVA, on the other hand, caters largely to mainstream francophone tastes. When Céline Dion released her last French-language album, she did it on TVA, which draws twice the number of viewers as Radio-Canada.

TVA is owned by Quebecor Inc., which also counts the tabloids Journal de Montreal, Journal de Quebec as well as a half-dozen celebrity mags and a number of star-gazing TV shows among its properties. In the last five years, TVA has churned out a slate of immensely popular reality shows that make it on the air without help from the feds. They include: the talent contest Star Académie, the dating show Occupation Double, and Le Banquier, the Quebec version of Deal or No Deal. Nearly three million tuned in for Le Banquier’s debut show last season, which featured a surprise appearance by Céline and René Angelil.

As reporter Konrad Yakabuski pointed out in the Globe and Mail last week, it’s likely that Tory strategists in Quebec went into the election campaign confident that the arts cuts would have no resonance with their target voters outside Montreal.

A poll published in the Globe and Mail last week found that 37 per cent of Quebecers "strongly support" funding to the arts; in Ontario, the number is 29 per cent. That makes sense. Even Quebec sovereigntists know Heritage Canada and federal institutions such as Radio-Canada, the National Film Board and Telefilm Canada have done an enormous amount to help Quebec culture survive and prosper. According to Statistics Canada, in 2003-2004, Quebec received more culture funding from Ottawa than any other province, $156 per capita. Through its provincial arts council and SODEC, which finances film and television, the Quebec government also chips in a great deal.

And how does this affect the entertainment habits of Quebecers? According to a report published in 2006 by the Hamilton, Ont.-based research firm Hills Strategies, the province ranks ninth in Canada when it comes to per capita spending on arts and culture (which includes books, concerts, CDs, etc.). While Quebecers adore their homegrown TV, the study found that less than half of households – 41 per cent – bought a book in 2005. Quebec ranks sixth when it comes to visiting art galleries. (The study shows that in 2005, consumers in Alberta spent more per capita on artwork and cultural events than any other province.)

While Quebec’s creative class — and the journalists who write about them — would like to think that ordinary Quebecers care about arts subsidies, the reality is that they are probably as concerned about the issue as the ordinary Canadian. In other words, not all that much.

Patricia Bailey is a writer and broadcaster in Montreal.