CCA Bulletin 37/06

Ottawa, September 7, 2006

CCA Encourages Pre-Budget Finance Committee to Adopt “A Creative New Way of Thinking”

On September 5 2006, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) sent its brief A Creative New Way of Thinking to the Clerk of the federal Standing Committee on Finance for consideration as part of its upcoming fall pre-budget deliberations.

The CCA, in response to extensive consultations with its membership at its March 2006 policy conferences, and again in recent weeks as it prepared its brief, has elected to situate its 2006 pre-budget recommendations against the broader canvas of social and economic change in all sectors of Canadian life. The intent of the CCA's nine recommendations is to encourage a substantive response by the federal government to these fundamental changes that affect, amongst others, hundreds of thousands of Canadians working in the arts and cultural sector.

The CCA has participated in the pre-budget consultations for over two decades. During this time we have put forward ideas and recommendations so that the federal government and the arts and culture sector can more effectively work together in contributing to the development of the country's arts and cultural industries.

Over this period of time, the CCA has watched the evolution of the Canadian economy and labour market with great interest. For many years the interests of Canadian artists, creators, and arts professionals were seen at stark variance to those of the majority of Canada's labour force. This is no longer the case, however, as the number of self-employed in the Canadian economy has grown considerably (with the arts and culture sector still showing however one of the highest rates of self-employment in the Canadian economy), with workers who possess a range of sophisticated skills necessary to pursue several different opportunities simultaneously to earn a livelihood.

The CCA argues that it is time for the federal government to address the realities and inequities confronted by self-employed professionals in general, and to seek solutions to the challenges they face working in a labour, taxation, and social benefit system developed for employees in the traditional, industrial meaning of the word. It is now clear to the CCA that it is time to recalibrate many of the policies and regulations that recall an era where self-employment was an aberration. Now, self-employment is becoming the norm. It is time to ensure that the federal government enables and protects all Canadians who face the challenges and uncertainties related to self-employment and have to rely on multiple sources of income for their livelihood.

As for the specific realities of the cultural sector, the CCA is somewhat encouraged by some developments reflected in the 2006 federal budget and by the fact that Canada was the first country to sign and ratify the UNESCO Convention on Cultural Diversity. By so doing, it is the expectation of the CCA and its members that the federal government will maintain and enhance the support it provides to the arts and cultural sector as a whole. To that end, the CCA expects that the Government will ensure the vitality of Canadian culture through the judicious use of legislation, regulation, our national cultural institutions and agencies, as well as adequate public funding.

The CCA encourages the Minister of Finance, the Members of the Standing Committee on Finance, and federal policy makers to give serious consideration to our nine pre-budget recommendations, and step through the looking glass into a 21st Century where Canadians exercise greater choices in their career management than ever have been considered before.

Summary of the Canadian Conference of the Arts' Pre-Budget Recommendations to the Standing Committee on Finance

1. The CCA sees the extension of the $ 500 children's physical activity tax credit to include artistic activity as another form of benefit to Canadian families and children, and we urge the Standing Committee on Finance to formally endorse our position.

2. The CCA recommends that the Standing Committee endorse the benefits of taxation measures to support creativity such as a minimum $ 30 K exemption on revenue deriving from copyright and residual payments, and tax exemption to grants to individual artists and creators.

3. The CCA recommends that a constructive approach be taken by the government to resolve the inequity in EI and CPP programs for self-employed workers.

4. At a minimum, the CCA recommends that the Standing Committee discuss the ongoing issue of income averaging with officials from the Department of Finance to determine if a new system could be developed. The CCA also requests that the basic personal deduction limit for self-employed Canadians be raised to $10K.

5. The CCA supports requests for further increases in the budget of the Canada Council and asks that the increase of $ 30 million to the Council's 2007-08 budget announced in the May 2006 federal budget be made permanent.

6. The CCA asks the Standing Committee to ensure that it understands the unique funding needs of each of the PCH's cultural agencies and institutions and address them.

7. The CCA encourages the Minister of Finance and the Standing Committee to address the funding situation of the federal museum and heritage institutions in the upcoming federal budget, as well as the urgency of the development and implementation of a new federal museums policy.

8. The CCA calls upon the Standing Committee to recommend placing the Canadian Heritage's “Tomorrow Starts Today” suite of programs on a permanent funding basis and expand matching fund programs to complement the changes in the capital gains tax treatment announced in Budget 2006.
9. The CCA recommends that in its report to the Minister of Finance, the Standing Committee address the concern about over-accountability burden of not for profit and charitable organizations concerning the public financial support they get.