CCA Bulletin 20/06

ADVOCACY ALERT! SMALL WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY TO PARTICIPATE IN ONLINE 2006 PRE-BUDGET CONSULTATIONS!

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) has learned that just last Thursday April 6 the Hon. Jim Flaherty, Minster of Finance, announced that the Government of Canada is indeed carrying out pre-budget consultations for its upcoming 2006-07 federal budget.

However, this year’s process differs significantly from the pre-budget consultations held by the federal government in recent years.  With rumours of a budget being tabled in late April or early May and the government continuing to operate on more than $2.3 billion in Governor General Special Warrants accumulated since the beginning of the election, this year’s consultation is being carried out online… and in a record number of days: thirteen (which includes the Easter Holiday weekend in the middle!).

In his April 6 press release, Minister Flaherty notes that the consultation process “is another example of how the new government is taking accountability and openness to a higher level”.  Unfortunately there has been very little media coverage of the Minister’s invitation to Canadians to participate, nor does it appear there has been any significant planning on the part of his Ministry to allow for more thorough public hearings to allow for testimonies from Canadians from across the country and from all walks of life. While the CCA welcomes the manifest intention of broadening accountability through such forms of consultation process, we cannot but help suggest that it could be better organized and advertised next time.

Regardless, the CCA will intervene online in the coming days by re-circulating our 2006 pre-budget submission from last autumn, entitled “Setting the Stage”, along with a covering letter to Minister Flaherty articulating the CCA’s top five key short-term priorities for the arts and cultural sector that emerged from our recent National Policy Conference and Board meetings.

The CCA’s own immediate five priorities for the 2006 federal budget are for the Government of Canada to:

1. Introduce all components of the November 23, 2005 announcement to increase federal fiscal investment in the Canada Council for the Arts, the cultural programs of the Department of Foreign Affairs, national training institutions, etc.;
2. Announce a new federal museums policy with increased funding;
3. Finance the CBC’s plan to expand regional programming;
4. Reinstate income averaging for artists and cultural workers, as well as policies to enable creators to exempt copyright income from taxation;
5. Expand the planned tax credit of $500 for parents of young Canadians under the age of 16 who enroll their children in programs promoting physical activity to also include a tax credit for parents enroll their children enrolled in arts and cultural activities.

Organizational and individual members of the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) are strongly encouraged to take the time to participate in the online pre-budget consultations before the closing date of next Wednesday April 19 2006 by advocating for increased fiscal investment and better taxation policies for Canada’s artists and the cultural sector as a whole.  This is in particular an excellent opportunity to support the Canadian Arts Coalition’s demand for more investment in artistic creativity and excellence through a substantial increase to the Canada Council’s budget.

Again, details of this government initiative can be found online. One can participate by sending comments in writing to budget2006consult@fin.gc.ca.  According to the Minister’s April 6 release, “The consultation is open to anybody interested in participating”, so let us work collectively to demonstrate that Canada’s arts and cultural sector is indeed very interested in the government’s plans for investing in our shared culture, “for Budget 2006 and beyond.”