Montreal gay pride festival funding denied

Canada's federal government will not provide funding for this year’s Divers/Cité festival in Montreal. The festival's future is now in question.

The festival, which is Montreal’s gay pride arts festival, was counting on receiving $155,000 in new funding from Ottawa. In an email to the CBC, Industry Canada spokeswoman Christiane Fox, said there are just too many worthwhile events to allow government funding for all of them. The directors of Divers/Cité in Montreal had been informed by government officials that their funding request met all the criteria. However, final approval rested with Industry Minister Tony Clement’s office. Last Monday, the event's organizers were told the Conservative government had rejected their request. Suzanne Girard, director of Divers/Cité, said. "To be told that there is no money, when there is. They have $100 million put aside; they chose not to give to Divers/Cité. The reasons … we don’t know. Is it we're gay? Is it we're Montrealers? We’re Québécois? It's incredible they would decide at this late date, five days before our event starts,” said Girard. The Divers/Cité festival is in its 17th year and injects money into the local economy. The festival attracts 55,000 visitors to Montreal yearly. "Per capita, we bring in more tourism than any other festival in Canada. And you can ask any Montreal taxi driver, the hotels … about our impact on Montreal … we are a niche market, we are an extremely important tourism event," said Girard. It is possible the eight-day festival might get cancelled. Divers/Cité is scheduled to run July 26 to August 2 and features gay and lesbian performers from around the world.