FROM THE DESK of Alain Pineau: The federal budget: where will arts and culture be?

CCA Bul­letin 22/06

April 28, 2006

If the Main Esti­mates pre­sented by the gov­ern­ment on Tues­day were more than a tech­ni­cal­ity to keep the machin­ery of Gov­ern­ment work­ing prior to the bud­get, there should be seri­ous con­cerns in the cul­tural sec­tor. Noth­ing to be found there about the long-overdue fed­eral invest­ment in artis­tic cre­ativ­ity and excel­lence nor in any field of the cul­tural sec­tor. On the other hand, noth­ing either about more cuts to arts and cul­ture, always the easy tar­get on any Finance Min­is­ter of any polit­i­cal stripe!

All of this may change of course when Min­is­ter James Fla­herty stands up in the House of Com­mons at 4 PM East­ern, to read his first Bud­get Speech. Not that we expect cuts to the sec­tor given the cur­rent polit­i­cal con­text (at least not in this first bud­get con­cerned mostly with the government’s five pri­or­i­ties), but nobody really has a clue about what’s going to hap­pen to the much needed increases to the bud­get of the Canada Coun­cil, the new Museum pol­icy or the bud­get increase to For­eign Affairs cul­tural bud­gets and the place of cul­ture in Canada’s inter­na­tional polit­i­cal and trade strategies.

Of the main imme­di­ate pri­or­i­ties pushed by the CCA, we only know for sure that the Finance Min­is­ter has com­mit­ted to explore the notion of exempt­ing copy­right and patent rev­enue from tax­a­tion (as sup­ported by us and by the Cana­dian Coun­cil of Chief Exec­u­tives) and also to explore the idea of extend­ing the $500 tax credit promised to par­ents of under 16 year old chil­dren enrolled in sports activ­i­ties to those of chil­dren enrolled in some form of artis­tic training.

The CCA will be present in the Bud­get lock-up on the Hill on Tues­day. We will pro­vide you with our imme­di­ate analy­sis the very next day. As in pre­vi­ous years, we have also com­mis­sioned a thor­ough analy­sis of the full bud­get and revised Main Esti­mates as they affect arts and cul­ture. We will make avail­able this analy­sis avail­able to mem­bers in the fol­low­ing two to three weeks.

CCA Par­tic­i­pates In 2006 Alter­na­tive Fed­eral Bud­get: “Mov­ing For­ward“

Still related to the bud­get: for the past num­ber of years, the CCA has been involved as a mem­ber of the Steer­ing Com­mit­tee for the Alter­na­tive Fed­eral Bud­get, which is coor­di­nated annu­ally by the Cana­dian Cen­tre for Pol­icy Alter­na­tives (CCPA). The 2006 Alter­na­tive Fed­eral Bud­get (AFB for short) was launched at a news con­fer­ence at the National Press Club on Thurs­day April 27 and is enti­tled “Mov­ing For­ward”.

“Mov­ing For­ward” demon­strates that the Gov­ern­ment of Canada has the finan­cial resources to main­tain and build on the com­mit­ments made in the 2004-05 Minor­ity Par­lia­ment and can use upcom­ing sur­pluses to move for­ward on a pro­gres­sive, yet bal­anced agenda. The AFB hon­ours the 5 key com­mit­ments made in 04–05 and advances other impor­tant pri­or­i­ties by invest­ing a net total of an addi­tional $36 bil­lion in Canada’s social and envi­ron­men­tal qual­ity of life over three years — while still main­tain­ing a bal­anced bud­get in every year with NO increase in over­all taxes.

The 2006 AFB incor­po­rates the pri­or­i­ties of a wide range of promi­nent civil soci­ety orga­ni­za­tions, includ­ing the CCA, and rep­re­sents the views of mil­lions of Cana­di­ans. CCA mem­bers will recall that our April 10 Bul­letin high­lighted the CCA’s cur­rent short-term advo­cacy pri­or­i­ties for the upcom­ing bud­get. On May 2, the CCA is look­ing for the Gov­ern­ment of Canada to:

• Make long-overdue invest­ments in artis­tic cre­ativ­ity and cul­tural insti­tu­tions. The CCA believes that pro­gres­sively dou­bling the bud­get of the Canada Coun­cil for the Arts is the most appro­pri­ate way of mak­ing such an investment;
• Ensure that Cana­dian artists and cul­tural insti­tu­tions have access to the inter­na­tional scene through increased fund­ing of the cul­tural pro­grams of the Depart­ment of For­eign Affairs;
• Announce a new fed­eral muse­ums pol­icy with increased funding;
• Finance the CBC’s plan to expand regional programming.

These pri­or­i­ties also appear in “Mov­ing For­ward” under the title “Cul­ture and the Arts”, which was authored by the CCA. The CCA is pleased to be involved in the CCPA’s AFB project again this year, though it does not cap­ture the full list of five pri­or­i­ties that the CCA is cur­rently advo­cat­ing for the 2006 fed­eral bud­get. The CCA is also ask­ing Finance Min­is­ter Jim Fla­herty to:

• Rein­state income aver­ag­ing for artists, cul­tural work­ers and other self-employed Cana­di­ans whose income fluc­tu­ates from year to year, as well as estab­lished poli­cies enabling artists to exempt copy­right income from tax­a­tion, a mea­sure sup­ported by the Cana­dian Coun­cil of Chief Executives;
• Expand the planned tax credit of $500 for par­ents of young Cana­di­ans under the age of 16 who enroll their chil­dren in pro­grams pro­mot­ing phys­i­cal activ­ity to also include a tax credit for par­ents who enroll their chil­dren in arts and cul­tural activities.

The Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion
The Cana­dian Arts Coali­tion (CAC) will cir­cu­late to all its mem­bers on Tues­day a press release and some speak­ing notes con­cern­ing the pres­ence or the absence of any ref­er­ence in the fed­eral bud­get to the hard-fought for increase to the bud­get of the Canada Council.

The Cana­dian Con­fer­ence of the Arts (CCA) is an active mem­ber of the Coali­tion and will cir­cu­late all this infor­ma­tion to its mem­bers as soon as it is avail­able. It is of utmost impor­tance that the cul­tural sec­tor speak with one voice on this most impor­tant issue. While it is not the answer to all the var­i­ous needs of the Cana­dian cul­tural sec­tor at large, fed­eral invest­ing in cre­ativ­ity and in artis­tic excel­lence are cru­cial issues for all of us and for Cana­dian soci­ety. Let us keep the pres­sure on our Par­lia­men­tar­i­ans and on the gov­ern­ment in par­tic­u­lar so that they rec­og­nize the social ben­e­fits of such wise investments.