CCA Bulletin 36/08 - Federal Election 2008 – What to ask candidates when they solicit your vote? (Part One)

Ottawa, Monday, September 15, 2008

In order to assist all those who are preoccupied with the place arts and culture occupy in the current electoral campaign, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) has identified seven broad areas of prime importance for artists, creators, cultural institutions and industries. The CCA has developed a set of questions for each issue: these questions can be asked to all candidates when they come knocking at the door or participate in an all party debate.

This first section we are issuing today proposes questions to ask of all local candidates in your riding. They touch on three important current issues for the arts and culture sector in Canada. Topics raised in this section question the role of the federal government in cultural funding and policy, the role of culture and arts in international diplomacy, and the growth of Canada’s creative economy.  Each set of suggested questions is preceded by a short backgrounder on the issue. We encourage you to disseminate as much as possible the replies you may get, either in writing or in a public forum.

Issue: Federal funding of the arts and culture sector

Background:

As long as culture is nowhere to be found in the Canadian constitution, it has always been an area of shared jurisdiction between Federal and Provincial governments. In 2007-2008, the Federal government has dedicated more than $ 3.3 billion to the various activities of the cultural sector, including the budget of the Department of Canadian Heritage, the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts and other national arts and culture institutions.

According to Canadian Conference of the Arts’ Annual Federal Budget Analysis, the overall spending on arts and culture has been fairly stable over the past three years. However, there have been material reallocations of money within the overall part of the federal budget dedicated to arts and culture. The Canada Council has received $ 50 million one-time increases to its budget and, this year, a $30 M recurrent increase to its base budget. $100 M has been invested by the government in much needed cultural infrastructures (at the National Arts Centre  and at national museums). An important investment has been promised for the first national museum to be built and maintained outside of the national capital region (the Canadian Museum of Human rights, in Winnipeg). Most cultural agencies (the CBC, Telefilm, the Canadian Television Fund, the National Film Board, etc.) have pretty much been maintained at the status quo level. A new annual budget of $ 8 million has been allocated to the support local festivals of all kinds and the Arts Presentation Program of the Department of Heritage has been increased by $ 7 million a year.

On the other side of the ledger, no progress has been made toward a new federal museum policy and its accompanying increased budget to help preserve our common heritage, while significant cuts have been made to the museum community by cutting the Museum Assistance Program ($4.6M) and putting an end to the Exhibition Transportation Services. The National Portrait Gallery project has been put for auction to nine Canadian cities and to the private sector. At Foreign Affairs and International Trade, the PromArt Program, first reduced by  $5,9 million in 2006, will be completely abolished at the end of the current fiscal year ($4.7M). TradeRoutes, another program promoting our culture abroad, has been axed ($9 million). The E-Culture programme, including the Canadian Cultural Observatory, has been abolished ($4.4 million) and budgets for cultural statistics at Statistics Canada have been considerably reduced. Other cuts which have emerged over the past month add another $ 60,5 million (including PromArt and TradeRoutes) to the total reductions to program and services for the arts and culture sector (i.e. $ 72 million so far). The latest cuts affect mainly the dissemination of Canadian culture abroad, the training of a creative workforce to position Canada internationally, and the production, distribution and preservation of New Media content.

Suggested questions

• Does your Party support the concept that culture is a shared jurisdiction between Provincial and Federal governments? If so, does your Party acknowledge that the federal government has a responsibility to invest in art and culture in Canada as it does for other sectors of national activity?

• Does your Party agree that the federal government has a responsibility to help develop international markets for our artists, creators, cultural institutions and cultural industries as it does for other sectors of the economy?

• Will your Party invest more in the production of art and culture, including in the audio-visual sector, through increased budgets for agencies in the Canadian Heritage portfolio and through the adoption of appropriate regulation of the private sector? Please be specific about your plans.

• Does your party have any plan to replace some of the programs recently cut? Which ones will you replace, why and how?

Issue: Promoting Canadian Culture on the International Stage

Background

From 1995 to 2005, the promotion and the promotion of Canadian values and culture abroad has been the so-called third pillar of Canadian foreign policy. Many artists, creators and academics have been sent around the world as ambassadors and symbol of excellence of our country.

In 2006, a first cut was made to public diplomacy programs under which Canadian artists, creators and intellectuals were sent abroad. The rest of these programs have been eliminated with the cancellation of PromArts and TradeRoutes. Staff responsible for arts and culture in foreign missions has been reduced, as have operating budgets, requiring those who are left to fundraise if they want to assist Canadian artists and creators.

This happens at a moment where many countries around the world reinvest in public diplomacy to better position themselves in the world. It is the case, for example, in the United States where the Bush administration has decided to inject $ I billion in public diplomacy programs in order to raise the American profile, especially in Muslim countries.

Suggested questions

• Does your party agree that artists, intellectuals and cultural institutions contribute as much to the international image of Canada as athletes and business people?

• If so, what programs and policies will your Party put in place to ensure that artists, creators and intellectuals participate in Canadian foreign policy strategy?

• Does your party intend to replace the programs dedicated to the internationalization of Canadian culture (PromArt and TradeRoutes)? Please provide specific details.

Issue: The Creative Economy- New Horizons or Lost Opportunities?

Background

Governments around the world are now developing policies and strategies to ensure that the transition from an agrarian/industrial economy to a creative economy result in benefits to their citizens and their economies. The creative economy is largely built around self-employed creative workers, which include a large contingent of artists, creators, arts and culture professionals.

If Canada is to compete internationally and build strength into our domestic economy and labour force, our political leaders must lead the way. The capacity of each political party to respond constructively to these challenges will be of interest to concerned voters.

Suggested questions

• What does your Party plan to do to stimulate and sustain the creative economy in Canada?

• Is your Party prepared to address the socio-economic needs of self-employed workers in the creative economy by finding ways to make the social safety net available to them?

• What incentives for creativity and innovation is your Party prepared to propose to maximize productivity in the creative economy?

• What plans does your Party have to replace the recently eliminated New Media Fund? When do you plan to implement such measures?