CCA BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
ESTIMATES TABLED
Ottawa, November 4 th , 2004 - CCA members will remember that, in 2003, the federal government committed to reallocate $1 billion annually in existing program funding “from lower to higher priorities”, with said “priorities” to be determined by the government. In addition, one of Prime Minister Paul Martin's first initiatives upon taking office was to establish a Cabinet Committee on Expenditure Review to “conduct a fundamental review of all programs and expenditures to ensure that spending remains under control and is closely aligned with the evolving priorities of government”. The amount to be “saved” was set at $12 billion over three years. (See CCA's budget analysis, Dear Prudence at http://www.ccarts.ca/en/documents/dearprudence.pdf ) We are now beginning to get an idea of where some of the cuts will be made.
The Main Estimates for the 2004-05 fiscal year were tabled but not adopted earlier this year, due to the May election call. They were re-tabled today, together with the Supplementary (A) Estimates. The Supplementary (A) Estimates indicate that the Department of Canadian Heritage will receive the following cuts - most of them fairly small, in the overall scheme of things:
• Canadian Broadcasting Corporation ($8 million)
• Canada Council for the Arts ($120,000)
• Canadian Museum of Nature ($100,000)
• Telefilm ($1.4 million)
• National Gallery of Canada ($400,000)
The line item for the National Library of Canada and the National Archives indicates a cut of $40-$50 million. This seems like a considerable amount of money but may be indicative of the savings resulting from the recent amalgamation of the two institutions.
The Estimates will now go before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for debate. For complete details of the Estimates, go to the Treasury Board website at http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/media/nr-cp/2004/1104_e.asp
Bigger cuts to come?
The bigger cuts will likely appear in the Supplementary (B) Estimates, which will reflect the Expenditure Review process; there is no knowing when these will appear or even if they will be made public, as it is entirely at the discretion of Treasury Board. All government departments and agencies have been asked to identify 5% of non-statutory spending for reallocation. This poses a particular problem for the Department of Canadian Heritage and the cultural agencies in that virtually all funding for arts and culture is non-statutory (ie: requires annual Parliamentary approval as opposed to being enshrined in existing legislation).
If one takes the Canada Council for the Arts, for example, a 5% cut of its base budget would be approximately $6 million. Without confirmation of the renewal of the Tomorrow Starts Today funding, the Council would also stand to lose an additional $25 million next year. How would the Council be able to operate effectively with such a reduced budget?
The Expenditure Review would appear to be bureaucracy driven rather than driven by Parliament. It is the government which makes the budget allocations at the beginning of each fiscal year; so why demand that public servants then spend innumerable hours each year working out where to cut in order to return a set amount?
The Minister of Canadian Heritage, Liza Frulla, has made encouraging remarks regarding the potential cuts and the renewal of the TST funding, but she is not the one who makes the final decisions.
The federal government is boasting a surplus of $9.1 billion for the current fiscal year. It is to be hoped that saner heads will prevail and that agencies such as the Canada Council will be spared.
Advocacy, advocacy, advocacy
The Canada Council has just released its 47 th annual report which calls for Canadians to send a clear message to government (at all levels) about the positive impact of the arts on their communities. The full text of the report, together with detailed information by province or territory and a searchable database of grants awarded in the last fiscal year (2003-04), can be found at www.canadacouncil.ca/publications_e/annualreports .
For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
53/04
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Register now for the CCA's 2004 National Policy Conference
Friday 19 and Saturday 20 November 2004
at the MacKenzie Art Gallery ,
Regina , Saskatchewan
See CCARTS.CA for more details