OTTAWA -- The proposal to create a Canadian visual artist laureate is set to be reintroduced in Parliament in the new year.

Senator Patricia Bovey is making plans to put the bill back on notice as soon as the Senate resumes sitting in 2020, and the artist who first pitched the idea is coming out on the winning side of a cancer fight, ready to push once again for the idea to pass.

Peter Gough, who first suggested the new parliamentary position, is a painter based in Liverpool, N.S. He has been pushing for a parliamentary artist laureate for years, even while undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive form of cancer that he says is now in remission.

“I just responded extremely well to the chemo treatments,” Gough said. “Go figure.”

Amid his health challenges Gough kept in touch with Bovey—a Winnipeg-based gallery director and art historian prior to her appointment to the Senate in 2016— about the bill. She’s been stickhandling the bill after its initial sponsor Sen. Wilfred Moore retired.

“If at all possible she will give notice on our first sitting day,” said Bovey’s office in a statement. But first she wants to be able to secure a House sponsor in hopes of avoiding a repeat of what happened last parliament.

The legislation was first brought forward as a Senate "public bill" which is the equivalent of an MP-sponsored private members' bill, except these bills are tabled by senators and begin their legislative journey in the upper chamber. It passed the Senate but died in the House of Commons after failing to secure a sponsor in time.

The proposal is to create a new position titled Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate, with the mandate of representing Canadian art. The mandate of the visual artist laureate would be to promote knowledge, awareness, and development of Canadian art, and over their two-year term the artist may:

  • Produce artistic creations to be used in Parliament, or for state occasions;
  • Sponsor artistic events and exhibits; and
  • Advise the Parliamentary Librarian on the library’s collection and cultural acquisitions.

This idea for a national visual artist laureate was modelled after the existing Parliamentary Poet Laureate. The role of the parliamentary poet laureate is to write poetry for parliamentarians or for special occasions, to hold poetry readings, and to help curate the Library of Parliament's poetry collection. The poet position was first created in 2001, through a similar piece of legislation.

“This bill is important to not just artists in this country, but it's important to the people of Canada. Artists in this country, what they do is they articulate what's important to Canadians. So, we'll see where it goes,” Gough said, adding that he hopes the bill will still be able to move through the now minority parliament with cross-party support.