CCA Prepares its 2008-09 Federal Pre-Budget Submission

CCA BULLETIN 24/07

Ottawa, Fri­day, July 12, 2007

Just the Facts

The CCA has begun con­sul­ta­tions on the 2008-09 fed­eral pre-budget sub­mis­sion. The Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance has set a dead­line of August 15, 2007 for briefs. This is about one month ear­lier than pre­vi­ous years. They have also asked inter­ven­ers to limit their briefs to five pages. The Stand­ing Com­mit­tee will hold hear­ings on the pre-budget exer­cise in the Fall. The CCA has already made known its inten­tion to appear in front of the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee in Octo­ber in Ottawa.

Given the rel­a­tively quick turn around time and the limit of five pages, the CCA intends to focus on the most impor­tant issue fac­ing the arts and cul­ture sec­tor – increased and sta­ble fed­eral invest­ments in the cul­tural sector.

Sev­eral fac­tors have lead to this decision;

• the end of the $ 50 mil­lion increase to the bud­get of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts at the end of the 2007-08 fis­cal year,
• the fate of the new fed­eral museum pol­icy which has been in the works for a num­ber of years,
• the end of the Tomor­row Starts Today enve­lope of fund­ing pro­grams in 2009-10,
• con­tin­u­ing con­cerns around the Cana­dian Tele­vi­sion Fund,
• lack of clar­ity around the $ 30 mil­lion fes­ti­val pro­gram announced in the 2007-08 fed­eral budget,
• the next phase of revi­sions to the Copy­right Act which could enhance the eco­nomic and moral rights of cre­ators and copy­right owners.

The CCA has tra­di­tion­ally called for income aver­ag­ing, exemp­tion of copy­right and resid­ual income from fed­eral income tax and exten­sion of the “soft ben­e­fits” asso­ci­ated with the Employ­ment Insur­ance Pro­gram as a part of the annual pre-budget process. Given the recent cor­re­spon­dence from the Min­is­ter of Finance regard­ing the Advan­tage Canada con­sul­ta­tions, these issues will con­sti­tute the basis for ongo­ing dis­cus­sions with Finance Depart­ment offi­cials. The CCA also recently wrote a let­ter to the Office of the Min­is­ter of Human Resources and Social Devel­op­ment to sup­port the brief of the Amer­i­can Fed­er­a­tion of Musi­cians of the United States and Canada (AF of M) regard­ing access to Employ­ment Insur­ance ben­e­fits for pro­fes­sional self-employed artists.

Con­sul­ta­tions have taken place with mem­ber orga­ni­za­tions and indi­vid­u­als by tele­phone con­fer­ence but the CCA wel­comes addi­tional input as the pre-budget sub­mis­sion is developed.

What Can I Do?

If you have any sug­ges­tions about other issues, or a par­tic­u­lar con­cern with the pro­posed focus of the CCA pre-budget sub­mis­sion con­tact Guil­laume Sirois, Cul­tural Pol­icy Advi­sor by tele­phone (613) 238‑3561 ext. XX  or by email at Guillaume.sirois@ccarts.ca . We would appre­ci­ate receiv­ing your input no later than July 20, 2007.