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Chapter 11 | Diane Saint-Pierre (continued) Among Canadian provinces and levels of government, it seems that cultural policies are more or less centralized, more or less rooted in the past or oriented toward contemporary creation, more or less dependent upon public funds, regardless of whether they are English Canadian, French Canadian or Québécois. It is clear that globalization leaves all governments, federal, provincial and municipal, facing similar problems. I believe there is ground for transverse studies and comparisons which may allow us to ask precise questions about common problems, and to examine, appraise and make public the different political answers that are being and will continue to be brought forward. Such a project could have a number of benefits, one of them being the establishment of cooperative relationships in the sharing of knowledge and expertise in this field, but access to such comparative studies could also be useful in developing common and shared political strategies in the face of the rapid evolution of the world’s economic and social contexts. My other suggestion is more closely linked with the theme of this colloquium, because when talking about the handing down of culture, one talks of meaning, about the proper and common values of societies. Confronted with “new” actors in the field of culture, who, as underlined by Vincent Lemieux (1996: 195-196), speak “a discourse which can be called collectivizing, as it valorizes collective identities, at whatever level,” these actors being agents defining and handing down collective values (members of municipal councils, public administrators, faculty members, pressure groups, Canadian and Québec coalitions, non-governmental organizations), I think it is time that researchers and analysts investigate the role and impact of those actors, and the values and beliefs they represent and hand down. I do not think it is necessary to point out that governing, nowadays, is becoming a more and more complex activity which goes beyond the traditional institutional framework. What has happened in recent years, especially with the negotiations of the World Trade Organization (GATT prior to 1995) — the failure of the Seattle Conference in December 1999, or the demonstrations at Davos (Switzerland) and at Porto Alegre (Brazil) — or the recent Third Summit of the Americas, held in Québec City in April 2001 in the framework of the negotiations of the Free Trade Zone of the Americas, show us with certainty that the zone of influence of political institutions, as well as the influence of their leaders, is changing rapidly. In spite of the size of the phenomenon, pressure groups and coalitions in the world of culture, along with other social stakeholders, have not been paid sufficient attention by researchers and analysts. It’s about time we put them under our lenses. references
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