Culture: what should go into the next federal budget?

CCA Bul­letin 24/11

July 11, 2011

Cul­ture: what should go into the next fed­eral budget?

As is the case each sum­mer, the House of Com­mons’ Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance has launched its annual national con­sul­ta­tion on what should be included or excluded in the next fed­eral bud­get. This year’s process is tak­ing place in par­al­lel with the secre­tive Strate­gic and Oper­a­tional Review which is cur­rently under­way within all gov­ern­ment depart­ments and agen­cies. The objec­tive of the review is to find a cumu­la­tive “sav­ings” of $ 11 bil­lion over the next three years in order to bal­ance the bud­get by 2014–15. The Pres­i­dent of the Trea­sury Board, the Hon. Tony Clement, has indi­cated that whole pro­grams may be cut, and that for the first time in seven years, immi­nent elec­toral con­sid­er­a­tions will not bear on the prepa­ra­tion of the bud­get. It is in this con­text that the CCA seeks your input as it pre­pares its sub­mis­sion for the 2012 fed­eral pre-budget con­sul­ta­tions. The CCA’s National Pol­icy Advi­sory Com­mit­tee and Board of Gov­er­nors will review input from our mem­bers at the end of July to ensure that we meet the August 12, 2011 deadline.

Just the Facts

The CCA is ask­ing for your input as to what you think should be in the 2012 fed­eral bud­get for the arts and cul­ture sec­tor. Please send your views and argu­ments to info@ccarts.caas soon as pos­si­ble, and no later than July 29, 2011. If you or your orga­ni­za­tion wishes to appear in front of the com­mit­tee in any of the fol­low­ing cities, July 29 is also the last day you can notify the Clerk of the Com­mit­tee with your request. The com­mit­tee hopes to hold pub­lic hear­ings in the fol­low­ing cities:

• White­horse, Yukon
• Prince Rupert, British Columbia
• Saska­toon, Saskatchewan
• Wind­sor, Ontario
• Toronto, Ontario
• Mon­treal, Quebec
• St. John’s, Newfoundland
• Monc­ton, New Brunswick

The Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance has laid out cer­tain guide­lines for this process includ­ing a five page limit, and only three spe­cific rec­om­men­da­tions. So within this frame­work, we would appre­ci­ate receiv­ing input around these topics:

1. How to achieve a sus­tained eco­nomic recov­ery in Canada;
2. How to cre­ate qual­ity sus­tain­able jobs;
3. How to ensure rel­a­tively low rates of tax­a­tion;
4. How to achieve a bal­anced bud­get.

In par­tic­u­lar, we are seek­ing thoughts and sug­ges­tions about how to attain high lev­els of job growth and busi­ness invest­ment in order to ensure shared pros­per­ity and a high stan­dard of liv­ing for all Canadians.

The CCA will be sub­mit­ting a brief to the Min­is­ter of Finance and to the Stand­ing Com­mit­tee on Finance, and has asked to appear in Ottawa, Toronto or Montreal.

What can I do?

Write to us at info@ccarts.ca and if you intend to present a sub­mis­sion and wish to appear, con­tact the Clerk of the Com­mit­tee at FINA@parl.gc.ca.  Don’t for­get to send us a copy of your brief as well.