CCA Bulletin 51/06

Ottawa, December 11, 2006

House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance Releases Report on Pre-Budget 2007 Recommendations

Just the Facts

On December 7, the Standing Committee on Finance released its report to the Minister of Finance, the Hon. James Flaherty, regarding its 2007 federal pre-budget consultations. Overall, the Committee has made forty-two recommendations about measures it would like to see reflected in the next federal budget. The Committee is dominated by Opposition members and the report contains minority reports from the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Bloc Quebecois and the New Democratic Party.

Three recommendations are of direct interest to the arts and culture sector, they are:

Recommendation 21: "The federal government should study the feasibility of a tax measure that would recognize and reward the hours of volunteer activity. This study should be completed no later than September 2007"

Recommendation 22: "The federal government should increase funds allocated to the arts and cultural sector. In particular, funding increases should be considered for the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the Canadian Television Fund, and Telefilm Canada. Funding for the Canada Council for the Arts should reach $ 300 million over two years"

"The government should also increase the funds allocated to federal regional development agencies and to projects for Canada 's northern territories in order that they have the resources to finance, to a greater degree, the infrastructure and growth needs of such entities as zoos, aquariums, fairs, exhibitions and festivals. The amount of the increased funding and the manner in which it will be allocated should be announced no later than 30 April 2007."

"Finally, the government should identity ways in which the current federal tax and spending initiatives supporting the arts and culture sector could be simplified and better coordinated, as well as develop a plan for the long-term financial sustainability of the sector."

Recommendation 23: "The federal government should review the range of federal measures and programs that support the preservation and restoration of heritage buildings."

"The review, which should be completed no later than 30 April 2007, should focus on the eligibility of not-for-profit organizations, public agencies and private individuals for the measures and programs."

While the Government is not bound to include any of these measures in its next budget, the report of the Standing Committee demonstrates the wide range of arts and culture organizations that participated in the hearings. In the "What We Heard" chapters of the report, one can see that the Committee not only heard representations from the arts and culture sector but included them in the Report.

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is particularly satisfied that many of our policy priorities, recommended by our membership during our March 2006 conferences and then ratified as an "action plan" by our Board, were taken up in the December 7 report. The CCA congratulates the members of the Standing Committee for their dedicated efforts and we are pleased that they worked together to produce a very strong report.

Tell Me More

In a review of the dissenting reports from each political party, each one addressed some dimension of the representations made by the arts and culture organizations that appeared before the Standing Committee.

In the Conservative report we find the following: "Specifically, we want Budget 2007 to focus on value for money invested in tourism, literacy, aboriginals, the environment and the child care spaces initiative; on implementing a national museum strategy rather than short-term inconsistent funding, and to ensure that the CBC and Radio-Canada continue to perform their vital role as national public service broadcasters."

In the report of the Liberal Party we read among their comments on infrastructure: "Agreement to include municipal initiatives for economic development, sport and recreational facilities such as parks, and cultural and other social infrastructure."

On taxation: "Accelerate the rate of increase for the basic personal deduction."

The Bloc Quebecois has the following recommendations on culture: "While satisfied with the recommendation to increase the funding to the Canada Council for the Arts to $ 300 million over two years, the Bloc Quebecois is disappointed that the Committee refused to recommend that the federal government introduce a progressive measure already adopted by the Government of Quebec by eliminating the GST on books. Access to knowledge has such importance in a world where the knowledge economy dominates that it should be given."

Finally, the NDP recommends in its dissenting report: "Increased support for the arts and cultural and recreational initiatives to strengthen the competitive attraction of communities through a vibrant social infrastructure."

What Can I Do?

It is clear that the themes found in the recent release of the "Advantage Canada" plan will guide the substance of the 2007 federal budget. As mentioned in our previous CCA bulletin, the online consultation for this document is open until December 18 2006 and the CCA will be making a submission, in order to make the case for situating out policy priorities within the Government's proposed "five advantages" - tax advantage, fiscal advantage, entrepreneurial advantage, knowledge advantage, and infrastructure advantage.