CCA Bulletin 7/09

March 2, 2009

The 2009-2010 Main Estimates Provide an Imperfect Picture of Government Spending

Just the Facts

The President of the Treasury Board, the Hon. Vic Toews, tabled the Main Estimates of Government Spending for 2009-2010 on February 26. 2009. Usually, this document presents a relatively complete picture of where spending has increased or decreased throughout the entire network of government departments and agencies.

Perhaps because of the politically tumultuous past few months and the unforeseen economic crisis, these Main Estimates do not appear to reflect decisions and announcement made before and in the federal budget of January 27, 2009.

Due to these contingencies, the CCA has been informed that the other half of the puzzle will appear in the Supplementary Estimates expected some time later this year.

Some examples of the disconnect can be found in the Canadian Heritage estimates which show resources for Trade Routes in 2009-10 to be almost  $1.2 million even though the cancellation of the program was announced last summer. Similarly, the Main Estimates ascribe only $5.5 million to the Canada On-line program that, while amputated last April of the Culture.ca, Culturescope.ca and the Canadian Memory Fund, still includes amongst others the Canada New Media Fund,  which the January 27 Budget announced would be renewed at its current level of $ 14,5 million.

It would therefore be easy to sound the alarm based on the numbers in the Main Estimates which the Department has cautioned are incomplete. The reconciliation of the 2009-10 federal budget with the Main Estimates has yet to be achieved.

Accordingly, rather than present the incomplete picture of federal investments in the arts and culture sector found in the Main Estimates, the CCA will suspend any detailed analysis of these figures until the Supplementary Estimates are released.

Until then, the arts and culture sector must rely on the commitments made by the Minister of Finance, the Hon. James Flaherty, in the 2009-10 federal budget to maintain resource levels to several important programs and to increase funding in programs identified in the budget documents. It is also helpful to quote from the Budget document itself:

“Culture reflects who we are as a nation, how we see ourselves within our country and how we appear to the world. Day to day, Canadians experience the essence of this rich and diverse country through the imagery and worlds of its artists, through works that demonstrate the best of talent. While resilient in many ways, the cultural sector is plainly also vulnerable to economic shocks. The Government wants to help ensure as much stability as possible for the sector at a time when the sector is facing difficult challenges.”

The CCA has committed to inform the Minister of additional measures that the federal government should undertake to help the arts and culture sector weather the economic storm affecting Canada and the world and participate fully in the creative economy.