Statistics Canada Releases Data on Government Expenditures on Culture for 2004/2006

CCA Bul­letin 47/08

Novem­ber 13, 2008

Just the Facts

Sta­tis­tics Canada has released new data on gov­ern­ment expen­di­tures on cul­ture for the fis­cal years 2004/05 and 2005/06.

These data show that over the two years, provin­cial and ter­ri­to­r­ial government’s invest­ments in arts and cul­ture increased by $ 160 mil­lion, while the fed­eral government’s over­all con­tri­bu­tion decreased by $ 50 million.

Over­all fed­eral spend­ing for 2005/06 was $ 3.55 bil­lion, down from spend­ing in 2004/05 of $ 3.60 bil­lion. Broad­cast­ing still rep­re­sented the largest expen­di­ture at 47.3% and was the only sec­tor to show a slight increase (+ $ 8.4 mil­lion), while her­itage accounted for 25.7%. Her­itage sec­tor spend­ing, which includes muse­ums, pub­lic archives, his­toric and nature parks and his­toric sites, accounted for 25.7% of all fed­eral expen­di­ture on cul­ture. All sec­tors other than broad­cast­ing (her­itage, film and video, per­form­ing arts, lit­er­ary arts) expe­ri­enced a decline in funding.

Provinces and Ter­ri­to­ries spent $2.43 bil­lion on cul­ture in 2005/06 com­pared to $ 2.27 bil­lion in 2004/05. Munic­i­pal gov­ern­ments spent $2.31 bil­lion on cul­ture in the cal­en­dar year 2005. Grants, con­tri­bu­tions and trans­fers for cul­ture accounted for 62.9% of the total cul­tural expen­di­tures by provinces and municipalities.

Con­sol­i­dated spend­ing by all three lev­els of gov­ern­ment was $ 7.84 bil­lion in 2005/06, an increase from 2004/05 spend­ing of $ 7.60 billion.

Tell Me More

Included in the Sta­tis­tics Canada Report is a break­down of fed­eral expen­di­tures by type of expen­di­ture and by sec­tor. This is a most use­ful analy­sis of how fed­eral spend­ing on cul­ture is allocated.

Oper­at­ing expen­di­tures rose slightly from $ 2, 573.9 mil­lion in 2004/05 to $ 2, 600.8 mil­lion in 2005/06.

Grants, con­tri­bu­tions and trans­fers declined by in 2005/06 to $702.8. mil­lion from $ 723.7 mil­lion in 2004/05.

Cap­i­tal expen­di­tures expe­ri­enced a sim­i­lar decline, going from $ 300.4 mil­lion in 2004/05 to $ 243.4 mil­lion in 2005/06.

Expen­di­ture By Sec­tor (in mil­lions of dollars)

Broad­cast­ing	$ 1,677.4   (2004/05)  $ 1,685.8   (2005/06)
Her­itage	$     929.3  (2004/05)  $     910.3  (2004/06)
Film and video	$     350.2  (2004/05)  $     344.5  (2005/06)
Per­form­ing arts	$     200.4  (2004/05)  $     188.2  (2005/06)
Lit­er­ary arts	$     135.8  (2004/05)  $     133.6  (2005/06)
Other	$      296.5  (2004/05)  $      293.1 (2205/06)
Total	$ 3, 598  (2004–05)   $ 3, 547  (2005–06)

Obvi­ously, these data do not reflect the recent pro­gram cuts nor do they include any costs asso­ci­ated with the recent announce­ment of the can­cel­la­tion of the National Por­trait Gallery build­ing project.

In the com­ing days the CCA will be watch­ing for the annual Eco­nomic Update by the Min­is­ter of Finance, the Hon­ourable James Fla­herty, to deter­mine whether the cur­rent eco­nomic cri­sis will result in fur­ther declines in spend­ing by Ottawa.