The Liberal government billed taxpayers $600,000 to support ten days of stand-up comedy in Montréal, according to recently disclosed accounts. Initially, federal managers declined to reveal the cost when first approached by Blacklock’s Reporter on July 10.“I am proud,” said Tourism Minister Soraya Martinez Ferrada. Subsidizing comedians “helps Montréal maintain its important position in this industry,” she added.The special $600,000 grant was meant to partially cover costs for two weekends of stand-up at the ComediHa! festival, which concluded last Sunday. The program aimed to offer “a variety of professional artistic experiences” to Montréal residents. This subsidy was in addition to an annual $10 million in funding to festival organizers, which expired on March 31.The $10 million grant was approved by Canada Economic Development for Québec Regions to promote job creation. Subsidies were provided “to adapt and improve the product offer of a large-scale comedy festival in a post-pandemic context,” the agency stated.ComediHa! markets itself as “the world’s biggest French-language comedy festival” with a vision “to become the most influential global leader in comedy.”A May 23 briefing note, The ComediHa! Salue Montréal Comedy Event, revealed that federal staff were concerned about a lack of entertainment in Montréal this summer following the May 3 bankruptcy of the Just For Laughs festival. “This one-off event is the result of a concerted effort by various levels of government to fill the important niche occupied by the Just For Laughs festival in Montréal’s 2024 summer programming,” the note said.Just For Laughs folded despite receiving $15.3 million in federal subsidies over the past four years. Court records show that producers owed creditors $23.7 million, including $1.9 million to the Business Development Bank of Canada.Producers explained to Québec Superior Court that live comedy and stand-up festivals were financial losses. “The situation has been exacerbated by unfavorable trends including significant increases in labour costs, rising interest rates, the current high inflation environment, and diminished consumer demand,” they wrote.“Festivals require several key sponsors to break even or achieve profitability,” the producers noted. “Unfortunately, since 2018, the Montréal festival has not been able to secure sponsorship revenues at a level equivalent to the pre-2018 period. The resulting impact has been devastating and resulted in material losses.”Despite these challenges, Economic Development for Québec Regions expressed confidence in the potential of stand-up comedy to create jobs. “The agency funds festivals all over Québec that generate sustainable, tangible economic benefits by acting as showcases to attract tourists from outside Québec,” said the briefing note.
