CCA Bulletin 32/10
December 20, 2010
Of this and that and other things:
A pre-holiday wrap up (Part 2)
This will most likely be our last bulletin of the year, but before we wish you all the best for the New Year, we must finish our year-end wrap-up of a number of important issues:
Federal Budget 2010-11: the CBC does not fare as well as initially thought!
The government released the second set of supplementary estimates for the 2010-11 fiscal year (The CCA reported on the first set, supplementary estimates A, in its 2010 Federal Budget Analysis).
One of the findings to emerge from the CCA’s analysis of this most recent set of supplementary estimates pertains to the source of some new funding. Budget 2010 announced that organizations would be expected to undertake ‘cost containment measures’ to reduce the pace of growth of operating expenditures. That means that only some of the new funding to organizations in the supplementary estimates is truly ‘new’. A portion of the funding is sourced by the organizations themselves from internal cuts.
The impact appears to be the most severe for the CBC. Its annual $60 million top-up received this year in supplementary estimates B effectively represents new funding of only $46.2 million. This is the case because $13.8 million was sourced from ‘savings’ identified as part of cost containment measures to reduce the rate of growth in operating expenditures announced in budget 2010.
The Department of Canadian Heritage was also affected by this practice. While the organization received an additional $33.2 million in supplementary estimates B, $2.2 million was sourced from ‘cost containment measures’. The additional funding received was directed to the Sport Support Program ($30.2 million) and the Michaëlle Jean Foundation ($3.0 million). Given that the new funds accruing from the supplementary estimates are not dedicated to cultural expenditures, it begs the question, how much of the $2.2 million in ‘savings’ in the department was effectively reallocated from cultural programs to these new expenditures? The supplementary estimates documents note that close to half a million of the $2.2 million in savings represented reductions in the budgets of the offices of the Minister and the Minister of State. However, how much of the rest ($1.7 million) came from the Department’s cultural activities? The CCA has placed a request on this matter to the Department and will report back on its response.
The Department also transferred $150,000 to Health Canada ‘to support research into access to health and social services for French-speaking minority communities’ and $272,000 to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to support research that informs policy on sport participation.
National museums that received funding to address operating pressures were also subject to this practice to varying degrees, as noted in the table below.
Organization |
Total Funding Received in Supplementary Estimates B |
Amount Sourced from Cuts Within the Organization |
Canadian Museum of Civilization |
$6.3 million |
$488,000 |
Canadian Museum of Nature |
$3.0 million |
$205,853 |
National Gallery of Canada |
$2.0 million |
$314,102 |
Canada Science and Technology Museum |
$3.7 million |
$3,528 |
In supplementary estimates B, Library and Archives Canada received a $1.0 million transfer from the Department of Canadian Heritage for the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and the National Arts Centre received a $500,000 transfer (half from the Department of Canadian Heritage and half from Western Economic Diversification Canada) for the Prairie Scene festival in Ottawa.
The Canada/EU negotiations: what about culture?
Through the joint action of the CCA and the Coalition for Cultural Diversity, there was a second meeting between representatives from the cultural sector and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage to discuss the negotiations between Canada and the European Union on a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA). As agreed upon after the first meeting in September, the parties reconvened on November 25 to review the situation after the fifth round of negotiations took place in Ottawa in October. It was agreed that the conversations would remain confidential to allow for a frank and open discussion of issues and so as not to affect Canadian positions at the negotiation table.
A number of topics were discussed, including: the breadth of the cultural exemption; the interest expressed by the Europeans in ownership rules for book publishing, printing and distribution; intellectual property; labour mobility for artists and cultural workers; and the parallel negotiation concerning a cultural cooperation protocol, an issue put forward by the Quebec government.
Cultural issues have not been broached during the last three rounds of negotiations, but this will change as we near the end of the process. The next round of negotiations will take place in Brussels in mid-January. The CCA continues to follow this process closely and will keep you informed on future developments.
The long-form census: clarifications about the “alternative” put forward by the government
In July, the CCA joined an increasing number of organizations from all walks of life to protest the government’s decision to abolish the mandatory long-form census and replace it with what experts at home and abroad have condemned as a flawed and more expensive voluntary household survey.
Upon cancelling the mandatory long-form census, the government claimed it would spend $30 million to encourage more Canadians to fill out the voluntary version. Last week, Statistics Canada told The Canadian Press that $5 million of that $30 million will be used to cover extra printing and postage costs related to the survey, because the number of households receiving the long questionnaire is going up from one-fifth to one-third. Additionally, another $10 million of the total is now being spent to add two extra questions on language to the short census, which remains compulsory.
The CCA shares the concerns of other groups regarding the serious consequences of this decision, and notes that the main loss is the underrepresentation of a number of Canadians, including First Nations, the poorest and richest of Canadians and the self employed, who represent a very large number of artists and creators. As a result, we will lose important data on the cultural workforce.
Another consequence to the cultural sector is the very serious impact this new approach will have in the design of surveys themselves. A census, or some other instrument that lists all individuals in a population, is required for the proper design of voluntary sample surveys. Trying to use a sample household survey in place of a census to design social or household surveys will effectively undermine the entire statistical system as it relates to non-business data.
Culture Days 2010 revisited
In late November, I had the privilege of participating in a Culture Days retreat in Toronto with 30 people from all across the country who had gathered at their own expense to take stock of the first pan-Canadian celebration of arts and culture. Modelled after Quebec’s Journées de la culture, Culture Days is a collaborative volunteer movement that aims to raise the awareness, accessibility, participation and engagement of all Canadians in the arts and cultural life of their communities. The main forces behind the initiative are the members of the Canadian Arts Summit.
The purpose of the two-day retreat was to review the ups and the downs of this first edition and plan not only for the 2011 event, but for the long-term. By all accounts, this first national event was a success, if only in creating awareness of its very existence. In a few months, one in three Canadians had heard about Culture Days, a rare achievement for any new initiative or “product launch”.
A number of issues were identified, among them the importance of conveying to participating individuals and organizations that this is a long-term investment in positioning arts and culture in Canadian society and as such, should not be gauged in terms of immediate ticket sales. A related issue that was also debated was the “free” aspect of the operation. Even in Quebec, where Journées de la culture will celebrate its 15th anniversary next year, many are questioning why artists should once again be subsidizing the promotion of arts and culture in our society.
On the organizational front, given the grass roots nature of the operation, discussions centered on the respective roles and responsibilities of the national, provincial and local organizations. Many lessons were learned and judging by the energy level around the room, one can only expect that the 2011 edition will build on the remarkable success of its predecessor. Culture Days 2011 will take place from Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 2.
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