CCA Bulletin 39/06

Ottawa, September 15, 2006

CCA's Review of Current Federal Government Reviews

Just the Facts

As illustrated in our recent bulletins, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is tracking a number of policy reviews currently underway within the federal government. Some of these are of more direct importance to the arts and culture sector than others, but all have considerable potential to effect profound change. We thought it would be useful in this bulletin to do a "review of reviews" to give a broad picture of all that is going on in Ottawa these days that is of importance to the arts and cultural sector.

The CCA Secretariat is keeping a watching brief on all of these reviews. This is a challenging task, as some processes are more transparent than others. Nonetheless, in the interests of keeping our Board and membership informed, the CCA will issue periodic and timely updates on any progress, including interventions and recommendations, or changes to the mandates or membership of each of these review processes.

Tell me more about current cultural policy reviews

Program review within the Department of Canadian Heritage - Since the installation of the new government, the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Hon. Bev Oda, has signaled that many programs of the Department (PCH) are under review. These are internal reviews mainly, and they have provided few opportunities for public input or scrutiny of the actual process or standards used in assessing the efficacy of funding programs.

Some of these reviews were undertaken in support of the revised terms and conditions of some of the programs created under the initiative "Tomorrow Starts Today". The Department and the Minister have indicated that these reviews will be completed by September 2006.

Review of PCH portfolio agencies' mandates and fiscal need - In addition to the Departmental review process, this past June, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage began to discuss a review of the Canadian Heritage portfolio agencies' mandates and fiscal needs. The Chair of the Standing Committee, MP Gary Schellenberger (Perth-Wellington), requested that the Parliamentary Research Bureau spend this past summer preparing an overview of these agencies for the review of Committee Members in the fall. The Standing Committee supported this request and will likely decide how they prioritize any review processes they will undertake in the coming months once Parliament resumes sitting next week.

There had also been noises in the late spring/early summer about a forthcoming CBC mandate review; however, the government has shown some reticence about embarking on such a review at this time.

Review of public diplomacy at Foreign Affairs - The International Policy Paper released by the previous government in April 2005 has been shelved by the new government. The Department of Foreign Affairs is now reviewing the proposed approach to public diplomacy. Public diplomacy is the revamped "Third Pillar" of Canadian foreign policy, and this is where the arts and culture sector fits into the larger international strategy. The Department hopes to conclude the process in the coming months and, although there have been informal consultations this review process is largely an internal exercise.

Special examination of the Canada Council - The Office of the Auditor General has announced that it will undertake the statutory special examination of the Canada Council for the Arts. This type of audit is applied every five years to all Crown Corporations and agencies like the Council and the CBC. The timing of this special examination has not yet been announced and the Board of Directors of the institution decides if it wants to make the report public. It is important to note that the Auditor General has given the Council a clean bill of health for the past decade!

CRTC Reviews - We are all awaiting the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) report on the review of the Commercial Radio Policy which took place over the past year. The CCA presented a brief on this topic in March and also taken part in the public hearing held in Gatineau, Québec in May.

At the specific request of Cabinet, the CRTC has also undertaken a study on the impact of new technologies on broadcasting, as well as a Review of certain aspects of the regulatory framework for over-the-air television.

With respect to the new technologies study, the CCA's September 1 submission "The Future of Environment of Canada's Broadcasting System: Empty Pipes?" has garnered a bit of attention amongst cultural industry groups and in the blogosphere. A public hearing will take place and the CRTC report to Cabinet is due "no later than December 14, 2006". As for the TV policy review, the CCA plans to file an intervention with the CRTC by the September 27 deadline and we certainly hope to appear at the subsequent hearings, which are scheduled to commence in Gatineau on November 27.

Tell me more about other current reviews

Left over from the previous government is the Review of Federal Labour Standards. The final report was scheduled to be released in June 2006; however, to date the paper has not appeared and recent CCA calls to the Commission have not been returned.

This Review was a public and transparent exercise in which several interveners from the arts and culture sector were involved. The gist of these interventions was to recommend measures to ensure that the interests of the growing share of self-employed Canadians are better reflected and served through revisions to the Labour Code. The federal Status of the Artist legislation was brought forward to the review process as an example of how these interests might be addressed.

The Minister of Finance, the Hon. Jim Flaherty, has appointed two high-level reviews of federal fiscal policy. The first is the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions. This panel, which is required to report to the Minister by December 2006, has been given a mandate to:

• review the administrative requirements individuals and organizations must meet in order to access government grant and contribution programs,
• examine the issues faced by the government departments in managing these programs,
• assess whether instruments other than grants and contributions are more appropriate for funding some programs.

The CCA endorses the August 2006 submission prepared by Imagine Canada to this Blue Ribbon Panel. We have also been invited to appear as witnesses in Ottawa on September 27 as part of an Imagine Canada delegation, and the CCA we will certainly keep its members and supporters apprised of any noteworthy developments on this front.

The second Expert Panel, which regular CCA Bulletin readers will of course recall as the subject of our previous publication, was appointed by the Minister of Finance to examine the eligibility terms of the proposed Children's Fitness Tax Credit as well as the administrative challenges related to its management. The CCA appeared as a witness in front of the panel on September 11 and presented our recent brief on the issue, which is also one of nine recommendations in our pre-budget submission, "A Creative New Way of Thinking".