CCA Bulletin 47/06
Ottawa,
November 14, 2006
Updates
On Federal Reviews and Other News
In
Bulletin 39/06, the Canadian Conference
of the Arts (CCA) informed you about a series of reviews of
programs and policies undertaken by "Canada's new government".
Some of these reviews have now been completed and the reports
are public. Other reviews have also been concluded and their
outcomes are evident in decisions that have been announced
by government officials.
1.
The review of Part III of the Canada Labour Code, initially scheduled to be released last June, has finally
been made public. The object of the review was to ensure that
the provisions of Part III (addressing those workers in areas
of federal labour jurisdiction - communications, transportation,
banking and telecommunications) were adequate to address the
significant changes in Canada's labour force and economy.
Among the recommendations of most interest to the arts and
culture sector is the proposal for federal funding of life-long-learning
and skills upgrading, and the provision of some "soft" benefits
to self-employed, independent contractors, and vulnerable
workers. This would be achieved through the creation of a
benefits bank that could be drawn upon to provide protections
to workers in areas of federal labour jurisdiction. The extensive
report can be found in its entirety on the Federal
Labour Standards review website.
While
on this topic, it is worth noting that on November 8, Opposition
parties in the House of Commons passed the second reading
of a Bloc Québécois private member's Bill
to amend the Employment Insurance Act. Of particular interest
to artists is the fact that if passed, the amendments may
give them access to employment insurance: one of the provisions
of the Bill would indeed empower the government to " make
such regulations as it deems necessary respecting the establishment
and operation of a scheme of employment insurance for self-employed
persons or classes of self-employed persons". The Bill is
now heading for review by the Standing Committee on Human
Resources and Social Development.
2.
The CRTC
has rejected Bell ExpressVu's application to re-distribute
the signals of subscription satellite radio services
(SSRs), saying that those services are not programming undertakings
according to accepted definitions of the term, but have been
licensed as distribution undertakings and, as such, cannot
be redistributed by other distribution undertakings. This
will likely lead to similar decisions in the case of Rogers
Cable, Telus and Vidéotron, which have all applied
for the same modification to their condition of licence over
the summer. You will remember that the CCA and many other
organizations within the cultural sector had opposed
those applications.
In the intervention
presented on August 31, which had been signed by 10 other
organizations, the CCA had requested that the CRTC hold a
public hearing on this issue, to examine the consequences
for Canadian content regulations of having licensed SSRs.
It now seems that this denial on a technicality will prevent
having this open debate!
3.
The Blue Ribbon Panel on
the Child Fitness Tax Credit had also asked to have
a little more time to publish their findings, saying they
had been overwhelmed by over
1000. Barely three weeks later, the Panel released its
final
report on October 26. The CCA had delivered to the Panel
and to the Minister of Finance a brief
promoting the inclusion of arts activities as eligible for
the tax credit. The report developed the criteria for eligible
activities as those which increased cardio-vascular rates
for participants and the CCA is disappointed with the fact
that the panel stuck very narrowly to its mandate and did
not make any mention, even as footnotes, of the proposal and
arguments put forward in our brief. The CCA has since sent
a
letter to the Finance Minister asking him once again to
consider our recommendation, which has been prepared at his
express request.
And
while we are on the issue of tax credits and exemptions, here's
an interesting quote from the House of Commons:
".
The credit would not be just for physical activity. It would
have to be activity. If one is going to go down that route,
one might as well go the whole way, and the whole way is
one has to cover the artists, the musicians, the athletes,
pretty well everyone. In which case, one might as well just
raise the basic personal exemption and that way everybody
benefits." (John McKay, Lib. MP, October 27, 2006)
4.
As part of the review of the Department
of Canadian Heritage programs, the International Network
for Cultural Diversity (INCD) has been refused funding
by the department. The news was a bitter disappointment to
those who have worked internationally through the work of
the INCD. The future of INCD will be discussed at a meeting
next week in Brazil. Canadian Heritage will however continue
to provide funding for the Coalition on Cultural Diversity
that works for the ratification by as many countries as possible
of the UNESCO declaration on cultural diversity around the
world. The CCA will continue to work with the Coalition on
Cultural Diversity in the promotion of their mission. It is
also important to note that the Canadian Commission on UNESCO
is active in this area and engages a wide range of civil society
interests in its work. What remains unclear with the government's
decision to stop funding the international secretariat of
INCD is what will happen with the involvement of civil society
in the cultural diversity file: since 1999, INCD had been
responsible for organizing the civil society meetings, held
in parallel with the annual meeting of cultural ministers.
5.
The CCA is still watching for the
report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions, due for early December, and the release of the
Pre-Budget Report of the Standing Committee on Finance. The Standing Committee bases its report in part
on the representations it has heard from a wide range of interests
within Canadian society, industry and economic specialists.
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