FEDERAL GOVERNMENT ASSISTANCE TO ARTISTS AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS INCREASED FOR SIXTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR

Ottawa , January 7, 2004 - StatsCan released data today (7 January) on government expenditures on culture   (2001-02, all three levels).   Superficially, the news is good: total government spending increased at its fastest rate in a decade, surpassing $3 billion for the first time ever.   This represents a 7.6% increase from the previous year, and the fourth consecutive year that spending on culture as a whole has risen.  

What the numbers show

Federal government

Overall, federal government spending on culture (representing 1.8% of the government's total budget) reached record highs: funding was $3.2 billion, up 8.9% from the previous year.   The StatsCan report indicates that the increases were across the board:

• $2.3 billion went to operating expenditures for government departments and cultural agencies.   This is an increase of 5.4%, and represents 72% of the total federal cultural budget.
• Broadcasting consumed the lion's share: $1.4 billion or roughly 60% of the total federal operational budget.
• Heritage activities (museums, archives, national parks and historic sites) took up a further 27% ($624 million).

• $669.5 million went for financial assistance to artists and organizations, up 16.1% over the previous year (and the sixth consecutive annual increase).

•  Sound recording received $17.2 million, up 74.6%.

•  Financial aid to the performing arts increased by a third to $102.9 million.

•  Book and periodical publishers received $145.9 million (up 10.4%).  

•  Film and video industry increased 9.1% to $234.8 million.

•  $239.3 million was spent on capital expenditures (up 27.8% - the highest increase in a decade).   Most of this related to increased funding for broadcasting projects in Quebec ; there were also increased capital expenditures on national parks in Newfoundland and Labrador , and in Manitoba .

Per capita expenditures: not unexpectedly, all three territories received high amounts.   Of the provinces, Prince Edward Island received the largest amount ($160) closely followed by Quebec ($149); British Columbia and Saskatchewan received the smallest amounts at $39 and $45 respectively.

Provincial/territorial government

Provincial and territorial government spending on culture stood at $2.1 billion, up 2.6% over the previous year, but indicating a slower growth rate than earlier years - 10.7% in 1998-99 and 5.5% last year.   (In some cases, funding carried out within individual provinces skewed the results, as indicated below.)   Of this amount:

•  $796 million (37% of the provincial/territorial cultural budgets) went on operations and capital projects (an increase of 1.7% from the previous year).

•  Heritage and broadcasting continued to be the principal beneficiaries at $594.4 million (75%).

•  Ontario and Quebec accounted for two-thirds of this total.

•  Heritage on its own received $98.1 million, a drop of 1% (due to reduced financial aid to museums and other heritage facilities for construction and renovation by the government of Alberta ).

•  $1.4 billion in grants and contributions to artists and cultural organizations (up 3%).  

•  Libraries, performing arts, and heritage received the bulk of this money, which amounts to over twice the federal contribution.  

•  Libraries received over half the allocation, an increase of 4.2%, due mainly to increased funding to university and college libraries by the government of Quebec .

•  One notable decrease was in funding for artists and performing arts groups, which declined by over 10%, mainly due to a reduction in capital grants for performing arts facilities by the governments of Quebec and Alberta .

Per capital expenditures: again, Yukon and the Northwest Territories were high; figures for Nunavut were not available.   Amongst the provinces, Quebec recorded the highest per capita expenditures ($102) and Ontario the lowest ($46).   [Both these provinces recently under went a change of government.   In the case of Ontario , based on the Liberal party's cultural platform, the sector anticipates some improvement over the next few years; for Quebec , the picture is bleaker as indications are that the new Liberal government will cut back on cultural spending from the levels provided by the previous Parti québécois government.]

Municipal government

Municipalities contributed $1.8 billion, up 9.3%; the bulk of this funding ($1.3 billion) went to libraries, an increase of 6.6% over 2000.   Municipal cultural funding has increased steadily over the past five years, a result of downloading from the provincial and federal governments.

Per capita expenditures: British Columbia shows the highest per capita rate among the provinces and territories (at $69), with last place provincially going to PEI .   (The territories of the Yukon and Nunavut were $17 and $1 respectively.)

A note of caution

One needs to look beyond the figures to get the whole picture.  

The year in question, 2001-02, is the year in which the federal government announced the major injection of funds into the cultural sector, under the rubric Tomorrow Starts Today.   This funding, a total of just over $500 million, was for a three year period.   The Department of Canadian Heritage recently received a one year extension to this funding (for the 2004-2005 fiscal year) in order to carry out evaluations of the programmes it supports.   While the cultural sector warmly welcomed the influx of funds, CCA's analysis of the investment (available on our website at http://www.ccarts.ca/eng/04res/Investment.html ), released in July 2002, came to four conclusions:

•  renewed funding to the cultural sector was long overdue

•  programme implementation has been slow across the board

•  the Department itself was a major beneficiary in terms of personnel

•  the programmes should not be viewed as constituting a federal cultural policy

One other point: just before Christmas the federal government, under the new Prime Minister Paul Martin, moved Parks Canada out of the Department of Canadian Heritage.   However, parks remain part of the cultural portfolio regardless of where it is parked (excuse the pun), and expenditures relating to parks will continue to be shown as part of the cultural data.

For more information on this cultural data release, go to www.statcan.ca, and type in 87F0001XIE in the “search the site” box.

For more information:

Kevin Desjardins

Communications and Public Relations Manager

(613) 238 3561 ext.11

Fax (613) 238 4849

info@ccarts.ca

www.ccarts.ca

01/04

Please post and/or distribute. When reprinting CCA Bulletins, please give appropriate credit.