CCA Bulletin 33/06
Ottawa,
August 11, 2006
CCA
seeks your input as it prepares for the 2007 Federal Pre-Budget
Consultations
Just
the Facts
The
CCA is preparing for the 2007 federal pre-budget consultations.
The Policy and Advocacy Committee will review input from our
members at the end of August to ensure that we meet the September
5, 2006 deadline.
The
CCA is asking for your input as to what you think should be
in the 2007 federal budget for the arts and culture sector.
Please send your views and arguments to the CCA Secretariat
as soon as possible but no later than August 22, 2006.
Among
the issues that will be part of the Policy and Advocacy Committee
deliberations will be:
- increased and stable
funding for the arts,
- extension of the child
tax credit for physical activity to the arts,
- some form of income
averaging for artists and creators,
- an exemption for copyright
revenue,
- raising the basic
personal deduction to $ 11,500.00,
- addressing the reality
of growing numbers of self-employed Canadians and their
access to social benefits.
The
CCA will be submitting a brief to the Minister of Finance
and to the Standing Committee in support of the child tax
credit, at the same time as making its pre-budget submission.
Tell
Me More.
The
CCA will acknowledge the increase to the budget of the Canada
Council for the Arts as a positive development by
the government, ask that it be made permanent and push for
a speedy assessment of the need for any further increases.
While many would insist upon doubling the budget of the Council,
the Auditor General will soon be conducting a value-for-money
audit of the Council. The Government has said repeatedly that
further budget increases in the cultural field would not be
made until a series of reviews had been completed. It is therefore
unlikely that the government would increase the budget of
the Canada Council further until the audit is completed and
the results and recommendations analyzed, which will likely
take us after the next federal election.
In
the meantime, however, some of the agencies that constitute
the Canadian Heritage Portfolio are in great need of budgetary
increases. The same can be said of the museum and
heritage community who were expecting the roll-out
of a new museums policy last winter. The Minister of Canadian
Heritage, the Honourable Bev Oda told the Standing Committee
on Canadian Heritage that she was taking a hard look at the
policy developed by the previous government. She gave no indication
that this would take place soon.
Following
up on a recommendation from the delegates at the March Conference,
the CCA is also considering taking a broader view of tax issues
and locating them in the context of a growing number of self-employed
Canadians in all fields of endeavour. The Policy
and Advocacy Committee of the CCA will consider this approach
when it examines the input from members.
What
Can I Do?
You
can send your ideas, recommendations and arguments to the
CCA. The pre-budget consultation has been an opportunity for
the CCA to bring to the attention of Parliament and the government
proposals dealing with income tax issues affecting artists
and creators, funding and policy issues.
Please
send your ideas before August 22 to James
Missen, Policy Advisor, by email at james.missen@ccarts.ca
or by regular post c/o of the Canadian Conference of the Arts,
804-130 Albert Street, Ottawa, Ontario KIP 5G4.
Blue
Ribbon Panel on grants and contributions
Just
the Facts
On
June 6, 2006, the President of the Treasury Board of Canada,
the Hon, John Baird, appointed an independent Blue Ribbon
Panel which, under the Federal Accountability Act and Action
Plan, is mandated
to provide advice on how to strengthen accountability for
the funds spent on the grants and contributions programs.
The Panel will also examine ways of reducing administrative
barriers to access and the management of these funds.
The
panel consists of Frances Lankin, President and CEO of the
United Way of Greater Toronto, Ian D. Clark, President and
CEO of the Council of Ontario Universities, and Marc Tellier,
President and CEO of the Yellow Pages Group.
The
panel will report to the President of the Treasury Board by
December 2006.
What
can I do?
The
CCA has already announced that it will intervene in the Blue
Ribbon Panel process. What is new is that the Panel has now
invited all and sundry to provide input through their
website before September 15, 2006. The
CCA encourages you to share your experience and comments with
the Panel and would appreciate greatly receiving a copy of
your intervention.
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