The cultural sector and the new Conservative cabinet

CCA Bul­letin 19/11

May 24, 2011

Just the Facts

On May 2, 2011, Cana­di­ans went to the polls and elected a Con­ser­v­a­tive major­ity, the first major­ity gov­ern­ment in seven years. On Wednes­day, May 18, the first cab­i­net under the 41st Par­lia­ment was sworn in at Rideau Hall, the res­i­dence of the Gov­er­nor Gen­eral of Canada. The new cab­i­net is com­prised of 38 min­is­ters, with nine new faces and 10 women.

On June 2, Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans will con­vene for a first time to elect the new Speaker of the House of Com­mons. Par­lia­ment will offi­cially open the next day, Fri­day, June 3, with the speech from the throne. The speech will deal with the imme­di­ate pri­or­i­ties of the gov­ern­ment. The 2011-12 bud­get, which could not be adopted because of the elec­tion, is expected to be rein­tro­duced on June 6 by the Hon. Jim Fla­herty, Min­is­ter of Finance . The ses­sion will likely be pro­rogued soon after the bud­get has been adopted, mean­ing Par­lia­ment would reopen with a new speech from the throne in early fall.

In this bul­letin, we look at the min­is­ters who will be respon­si­ble for the files of direct impor­tance to the arts, cul­ture and her­itage sector.

Key Cab­i­net Ministers

The Hon.

James Moore

has been reap­pointed as Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage and Offi­cial Lan­guages. Since 2008, Mr. Moore has brought his for­mer expe­ri­ences as a broad­caster, econ­o­mist  and Sec­re­tary of State for the 2010 Olympics, the Asia-Pacific Gate­way and Offi­cial Lan­guages to the posi­tion of Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage. First elected to the House of Com­mons in 2000, at the time, he was the youngest MP ever elected. He is the youngest Min­is­ter of Cana­dian Her­itage and since tak­ing over this port­fo­lio, he has been active on many files includ­ing copy­right, the renewal of impor­tant fund­ing pro­grams and the Olympics’ cul­tural events. He also has a keen inter­est in new media and what the dig­i­tal econ­omy means for Canada.

Given his per­for­mance at Her­itage, it was expected that Min­is­ter Moore would get a pro­mo­tion. Com­mon spec­u­la­tion is that this will come after he has shep­herded the reform of the Copy­right Act, now that the for­mer Min­is­ter of Indus­try, Tony Clement, has been appointed as Pres­i­dent of the Trea­sury Board. Beyond intel­lec­tual prop­erty, major files that will likely occupy Min­is­ter Moore include the place of cul­ture in devel­op­ing a national dig­i­tal strat­egy and the over­see­ing of the Strate­gic and Oper­at­ing Review within the depart­ment and its agen­cies. This exer­cise, announced in the March 22 pre-election bud­get, will result in hard cuts of between five and 10% and may lead to the elim­i­na­tion of whole pro­grams deemed to have out­lived their use­ful­ness. In that respect, as Pres­i­dent of the Trea­sury Board, the Hon. Tony Clement will also play a cru­cial role in the future of the cul­tural sector.

A note­wor­thy appoint­ment to the new cab­i­net is that of the Hon. Chris­t­ian Par­adis who shifted from Nat­ural Resources Canada to become Min­is­ter of Indus­try and Min­is­ter of State for Agri­cul­ture, a port­fo­lio of par­tic­u­lar impor­tance to Que­bec. As Min­is­ter of Indus­try, Mr. Par­adis will work closely with Min­is­ter Moore to re-introduce and pass the copy­right leg­is­la­tion that died on the order paper when Par­lia­ment was dis­solved. He will also be charged with devel­op­ing and imple­ment­ing the dig­i­tal econ­omy strat­egy, for which con­sul­ta­tions were held in 2010. The CCA will also closely mon­i­tor how the Min­is­ter moves for­ward with the Invest­ment Canada Act, which deals with for­eign own­er­ship of Cana­dian com­pa­nies, notably in telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions and broad­cast­ing, and the reg­u­la­tions involved in that process.

Another Min­is­ter to watch is Diane Fin­ley who returns as Min­is­ter of Human Resources and Skills Devel­op­ment, a post she has held since 2008. The CCA will keep a watch­ful eye on this port­fo­lio as it deals with the train­ing and pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment of cul­tural work­ers. As Canada moves increas­ingly towards a knowledge-based econ­omy, the train­ing and career pro­gres­sion of cul­tural work­ers will be an inte­gral ele­ment to the growth of the econ­omy. Stud­ies like the Impact of Emerg­ing Dig­i­tal Tech­nolo­gies on the Cul­tural Sec­tor in Canada, cur­rently being con­ducted by the Cul­tural Human Resources Coun­cil, should help inform the Min­is­ter and the Depart­ment of HRSDC on how to pro­ceed with applic­a­ble train­ing programs.

The Hon

.

John Baird has become Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs. First elected to the House of Com­mons in 2006, Min­is­ter Baird was suc­ces­sively Pres­i­dent of the Trea­sury Board, Min­is­ter of the Envi­ron­ment, Min­is­ter of Trans­port and more recently, Leader of the Gov­ern­ment in the House of Com­mons. It is the CCA’s hope that as Min­is­ter of For­eign Affairs, he will renew his department’s com­mit­ment to pro­mote Cana­dian cul­ture inter­na­tion­ally and sup­port the view that artists and cul­tural insti­tu­tions are ambas­sadors that con­tribute to Canada’s for­eign pol­icy and inter­na­tional trade objectives.

Finally, another cab­i­net mem­ber who in the com­ing years will be respon­si­ble for files of impor­tance for the Cana­dian cul­tural sec­tor is the new Min­is­ter for Inter­na­tional Trade and Min­is­ter for the Asia-Pacific Gate­way, the Hon. Ed Fast. One file of imme­di­ate and par­tic­u­lar inter­est is the on-going nego­ti­a­tions with the Euro­pean Union regard­ing the con­clu­sion of a Com­pre­hen­sive Eco­nomic and Trade Agree­ment. (CETA).  Mr. Fast has acquired con­sid­er­able expe­ri­ence on cul­tural files, hav­ing been on the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Cana­dian Her­itage for sev­eral years.