CCA Bulletin 23/06

For immediate release
Ottawa, May 2, 2006

Some Good News for Canada's Arts and Culture Sector Announced in 2006 Federal Budget

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is encouraged by the announcement of new monies for the Canada Council for the Arts contained in the 2006 Federal Budget unveiled today by the Hon. Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance.

This announcement comes on the heels of months of sustained advocacy by members of the country's arts and cultural sector, who were seeking a doubling of the Canada Council's annual budget.  Though the figure of $50 million over the next two fiscal years falls well short of the target, it is nevertheless a welcome development.

The CCA sees this as the first step on the part of a new government that is trying to be attentive to the sector's long-standing call for stable, increased, multi-year public funding for arts and culture. Now our work begins to ensure this the $50 million is secured as permanent, sustained funding and to make the advocacy case for significant increases in the very near future.

Budget Plan 2006, which is entitled "Focusing on Priorities", mentions the increase to the Canada Council at the bottom of page 123 in the section "Building a Better Canada: Families and Communities".  The plan also calls for the elimination of capital gains tax on certain donations to charities in order to facilitate Canadians' charitable giving, which is spelled out on page 120 through 122.

Unfortunately, what today's federal budget does NOT contain is any news related to the CCA's other current advocacy priorities.  For instance, there is no mention of a new federal museums policy, nor is there an announcement regarding additional monies to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), particularly for its regional programming plan.

It also appears Canada 's international policy is focused mainly on increased military and defence spending for the moment, though there is a new $320 million commitment to combat various diseases and sharp changes in commodities markets in low income countries.  Regrettably, an announcement last November to allocate additional monies to the cultural programs housed at the Department of Foreign Affairs did not re-materialize.  In CCA's pre-budget submission "Setting The Stage" we also called on the federal government to determine the needs for increased funding for the various portfolio agencies of the Department of Canadian Heritage; this recommendation also went unheeded.

Additionally, CCA's various 2006 budget appeals in the area of taxation and tax credits went unaddressed, for the time being, though we reported in CCA Bulletin 21/06 that Minister Flaherty has at least opened the door to having future discussions with the CCA on these issues.  We were asking the Government of Canada to reinstate income averaging for self-employed Canadians whose income fluctuates drastically from year-to-year, as artists and cultural workers comprise the fastest-growing sector of the country's 21 st Century post-industrial labour force, and for the government to implement a taxation exemption on artists' income, including copyright income.  Last, the CCA had encouraged the government to expand its planned tax credit of $500 for parents of young Canadians under the age of 16 who enroll their children in programs promoting physical activities, to also include a tax credit to cover children participating in arts and cultural activities.

Canada's artists and cultural workers earned an average of $23,500 in 2001 and should therefore benefit in one way or another from the various tax relief measures contained in the 2006 budget. It is too soon to assess the potential impact of these proposals, which include: changes to the personal income tax rate, as well as tax credits for trades people's tool expenses and scholarship and bursary income, among other measures.