The big news from last week's Giant Rally in support of the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL was not the large number of people who turned out or the cowardly refusal of the Minister of Tourism and Culture to address the crowd. The most important news was that the leaders of both opposition parties spoke at the rally, and both were unequivocal in their support for the NOVA SCOTIA ART COUNCIL.

First up was Darrell Dexter, interim leader of the Nova Scotia New Democratic Party. He spoke in reference to Part XV of the Financial Measures (2002) Act, which would repeal the NS Arts Council Act and turn the Arts Endowment Fund over to the Minister of Tourism and Culture (the Act is still wending its way through the Legislature and has not yet been voted on). Here's what Mr. Dexter had to say:

'We call upon this government to withdraw this part of the Financial Measures Act. It's a wrong decision to make, they made it without consultation, they made it without exercising any common sense whatsoever ... We want them to know that if they decide to use their majority to force this legislation through the house, if they decide that what they are going to do, regardless of all the advice and the weight of public opinion, is to go ahead with this wrongheaded move, that we are only one election day away from the reinstatement of the arts council ...'

Mr. Dexter was followed by Dan Graham, the newly elected leader of the Nova Scotia Liberal Party. He too spoke strongly in favour of the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL:

'The last thing that we ever expected was that the doors would be shut, particularly in the disrespectful way in which it was done. It was unilateral, it was arbitrary, it was disrespectful, and frankly, it didn't recognize that the arts are about excellence, the arts are about who we are as Nova Scotians . We were the last province in all of Canada to establish an arts council and we're the first ones to take it away. That's unacceptable! A Liberal government that brought the arts council into place - that introduced it in the first place - I can assure you - will reintroduce it as one of the first orders of business.'

Strong words, and all the more compelling because this kind of bipartisan agreement on a single issue is unusual. Given the circumstances, it must be clear to the opposition parties that (1) the Tories made a drastic mistake in shutting down the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL, and (2) there is huge public support, from all parts of the province, for its reinstatement.

The political impact of these declarations of support is profound. There will be an election in Nova Scotia within the next 18 months. If the Tories lose the election, as they likely will, then all of the damage, disruption, and dissension caused by their demolition of the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL, and their attempt to substitute a puppet 'Arts and Culture Council,' will have been for naught.

The tragedy is that the Hamm government is playing a nasty game of divide and conquer which is not in the best interests of Nova Scotia's culture sector or, for that matter, in the best interests of the province. It's increasingly clear that Premier Hamm and his Minister of Tourism and Culture had their minds made up long before the sham consultations which preceded the demolition of the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL. Their actions were unthinking, unilateral, and autocratic, and they completely underestimated the ability of the sector to mount an aggressive defense.

Now that both opposition parties are on side, it will be much more difficult for the Tories to control the agenda. It will no longer be easy for them to mislead the public with half-truths and untruths about the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL. And just the simple fact that this issue refuses to die will make it that much harder for them to win the election.

Meanwhile, the many supporters of the SAVE OUR ARTS COUNCIL Campaign remain steadfast in their determination to have the NOVA SCOTIA ARTS COUNCIL reinstated. This battle is far from over.