OTTAWA—Artists throughout Canada united yesterday to protest cuts in arts funding, Canwest News Service reports. The countrywide performances, titled the "Wrecking Ball," were organized to raise awareness about the $45 million (U.S. $41 million) arts funding cuts recently implemented by Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government.

Among the artists who contributed material to the protests, which were planned for Toronto, Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, and Corner Brook, Newfoundland, were playwright Judith Thompson, writer Michael Turner, and media personality Bill Richardson.

"I think it's absolutely stupid," said Ottawa artists Russell Yuristy, 72. "Art brings in money and I can't believe they [the government] are that stupid, but I'm kind of glad because it won't help them get a majority."

In Vancouver, the protest included monologues attacking Harper's dismissal of "elites" and a game of quote-identification called "Machiavelli or Stephen Harper?"

At a campaign stop in Saskatchewan last month, Harper angered the arts community by saying: "I think when ordinary working people come home, turn on the TV, and see a gala of a bunch of people, you know, at a rich gala all subsidized by taxpayers claiming their subsidies aren't high enough when they know those subsidies have actually gone up — I'm not sure that's something that resonates with ordinary people."

More "Wrecking Ball" events are planned for later in the week, including a concert in Toronto featuring Jason Collett of Broken Social Scene and Jim Creeggan of the Barenaked Ladies, among other musicians. Proceeds from all the events will go to the Department of Culture,  a national volunteer group devoted to promoting the arts and stopping the Conservatives from winning in the upcoming federal elections in mid-October.