The CCA urges the new Government of Canada to strengthen our arts and culture on national and international fronts
CCA Bulletin 6/06
January 24, 2006
The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) congratulates all new andreturning Members of Parliament for their election to the 39th Parliament of Canada, and welcomesthe new government chosen by Canadians. As an important first order of business for the culturalsector, the CCA asks the new government to honour the planned increase to the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts announced last November 23.
“Increasing the Canada Council’s budget by $150 million over three years was not a mere preelection promise”, says Alain Pineau, CCA National Director. “This decision has received thesupport in the last Parliament from MPs of all political parties, including the Conservative culturecritic Bev Oda. It has received Cabinet approval to go to Treasury Board before election call. Nowthat this much needed increase is finally in the governmental machine, with identified financing, itwould clearly require a conscious decision of the new government to revoke or delay it.”
This long-overdue investment in the Canadian cultural sector has been the object of numerousFinance Committee presentations on the part of the Canadian business and cultural sectors. “Therewill be ample time to review processes and programs,” Pineau adds, “but given its crucialimportance to supporting Canadian creativity and given the relatively small amount involved in thefirst of a well-thought out three year process, we urge the Conservative government to confirm theprevious Government’s decision.”
The CCA notes that the new Conservative government has been elected precisely at a time when itis imperative to assess the national policy framework of the cultural sector at large. Importantaspects of this policy framework have been put in place by previous federal Conservativegovernments, which enacted status of the artist legislation, initiated revisions to the Copyright Act,and established a series of task forces and other legislative initiatives in support of the arts andcultural industries.
The CCA wants to work closely with the new government to help refocus and frame 21st centuryCanadian cultural policies to face current technological and international trade challenges. “In thelast Parliament, the CCA worked constructively with Conservative Heritage critic Bev Oda” saysPineau, “and we are sure that whatever role she may play in the next government, herunderstanding of the sector will provide guidance to her colleagues on the government side of the House”.
Other immediate priorities the CCA will ask the new government to address include:
- Restoring arts and culture as the “third pillar” of Canada’s international diplomacy and addadditional financial resources to Foreign Affairs in support of this sector.
- Developing clear policies to ensure the fair tax treatment of artists by the Canada RevenueAgency, including improved tax exemptions, income averaging, and access to social benefitswithout jeopardizing the status of self-employed contractors.
- Maintaining policies that protect existing Canadian ownership of our media and culturalindustries; restricting both foreign ownership and the concentration of ownership in the culturalindustries; and strengthening domestic cultural expressions with policies that encourage Canadianinvestment in the cultural industries.
- Increasing funding to the CBC on a multi-year basis and upholding the cultural objectives of theBroadcasting Act in the 21st Century.
- Revising the Copyright Act to enhance the moral and economic rights of creators and copyrightowners and licensees.
- Introducing a new federal museums policy, which would include the investment of newmonies in sustained, multi-year, predictable programs.
The Canadian Conference of the arts is the country’s largest assembly of individuals andorganizations engaged in arts and cultural issues, whose combined numbers represent close to aquarter of a million Canadians. As a non-partisan organization that strives to contribute to theunique character of Canadian society in the cultural sector, the CCA will work closely with allpolitical parties and MPs represented in the new House. The CCA’s mission is to contribute to a clear-headed debate about Canadian arts and culture,and how best to make our artists and cultural institutions and business thrive for the benefit ofall Canadians. As part of delivering this mission, the CCA is organizing an importantconference to map the current federal cultural policy environment and establish actions plansfor the future, which is scheduled for March 2–4 2006 in Ottawa.