(Ottawa) Opposition MPs have raised the specter of government censorship and abuse of power as they launched a House of Commons review of nearly $45 million in cuts to arts funding.

The three opposition parties demanded the session in the wake of cuts the government quietly implemented during Parliament’s summer recess.

“There is real concern the government is picking and choosing which artists it is supporting and which artists it is not supporting,” said Nash.

“I suggest, in a democracy, that is a dangerous thing.”

The cuts affect programs vital to promotion of Canadian arts abroad, and appear to have been aimed at artists whose politics and philosophies are out of favor with the Conservative government, she said.

Conservative MPs argued the cuts were the result of a “strategic review” of arts funding – which has not been made public – that found the programs had either fulfilled their original goals or were wasting money with excessive administrative expenses.

But the opposition called for a moratorium on the measures until the heritage committee completes hearings into the controversy that could begin as early as next week.

Liberal MP Mauril Belanger said the government may have reached beyond its limits by arbitrarily reducing program funding that has been approved by the Commons in the 2008 budget, as well as subsequent spending estimates.

“We live in a parliamentary democracy, and this government seems to want to avoid Parliament like the plague,” Belanger told the committee.

“Is there an abuse here of executive authority if the government can cancel any program it chooses, where does it stop?”

MPs said the type of art and range of artists that will be affected by the elimination of a program that sends artists abroad to promote their work has prompted fears in the arts community about censorship. Nash suggested artists she met prior to the meeting were concerned Conservative opposition to messages the art conveys may be masked by government explanations of thrift and rationalization.

The promotional travel program the Conservatives are eliminating this year has included sponsorships such as a $550 grant to an Ontario filmmaker to present a short film, Confessions of a Drag Queen, at a gay and lesbian film festival in 2006.

The program gave another filmmaker $900 to present the film Peking Turkey at a gay and lesbian film festival in London, England, last year.

The program also funded trips by writer Gwynne Dyer and retired Supreme Court of Canada justice Michel Bastarache to travel to Cuba for speeches on Canadian foreign policy and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Several other artists and groups also received grants to travel to Cuba.

Other grants promoted seminars on corporate responsibility in South America and Central America, but dozens of grants for film artists, writers and performing artists were for trips to festivals and performances around the world.

Liberal MP Denis Coderre said artists and creative groups learned about the cuts “from the back door,” and argued the government was overlooking the spinoff economic activity – estimated at $84 billion by the Conference Board of Canada – that the arts community creates.

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro argued the Conservative government increased arts and cultural funding to $200 million in the 2008 budget – 20 percent more than the last Liberal government allotted to the sector.