Updates On Federal Reviews and Other News
CCA Bulletin 47/06
November 14, 2006
In Bulletin 39/06, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) informed you about a series of reviews of programs and policies undertaken by “Canada’s new government”. Some of these reviews have now been completed and the reports are public. Other reviews have also been concluded and their outcomes are evident in decisions that have been announced by government officials.
1. The review of Part III of the Canada Labour Code, initially scheduled to be released last June, has finally been made public. The object of the review was to ensure that the provisions of Part III (addressing those workers in areas of federal labour jurisdiction — communications, transportation, banking and telecommunications) were adequate to address the significant changes in Canada’s labour force and economy. Among the recommendations of most interest to the arts and culture sector is the proposal for federal funding of life-long-learning and skills upgrading, and the provision of some “soft” benefits to self-employed, independent contractors, and vulnerable workers. This would be achieved through the creation of a benefits bank that could be drawn upon to provide protections to workers in areas of federal labour jurisdiction. The extensive report can be found in its entirety on the Federal Labour Standards review website.
While on this topic, it is worth noting that on November 8, Opposition parties in the House of Commons passed the second reading of a Bloc Québécois private member’s Bill to amend the Employment Insurance Act. Of particular interest to artists is the fact that if passed, the amendments may give them access to employment insurance: one of the provisions of the Bill would indeed empower the government to ” make such regulations as it deems necessary respecting the establishment and operation of a scheme of employment insurance for self-employed persons or classes of self-employed persons”. The Bill is now heading for review by the Standing Committee on Human Resources and Social Development.
2. The CRTC has rejected Bell ExpressVu’s application to re-distribute the signals of subscription satellite radio services (SSRs), saying that those services are not programming undertakings according to accepted definitions of the term, but have been licensed as distribution undertakings and, as such, cannot be redistributed by other distribution undertakings. This will likely lead to similar decisions in the case of Rogers Cable, Telus and Vidéotron, which have all applied for the same modification to their condition of licence over the summer. You will remember that the CCA and many other organizations within the cultural sector had opposed those applications. In the intervention presented on August 31, which had been signed by 10 other organizations, the CCA had requested that the CRTC hold a public hearing on this issue, to examine the consequences for Canadian content regulations of having licensed SSRs. It now seems that this denial on a technicality will prevent having this open debate!
3. The Blue Ribbon Panel on the Child Fitness Tax Credit had also asked to have a little more time to publish their findings, saying they had been overwhelmed by over 1000. Barely three weeks later, the Panel released its final report on October 26. The CCA had delivered to the Panel and to the Minister of Finance a brief promoting the inclusion of arts activities as eligible for the tax credit. The report developed the criteria for eligible activities as those which increased cardio-vascular rates for participants and the CCA is disappointed with the fact that the panel stuck very narrowly to its mandate and did not make any mention, even as footnotes, of the proposal and arguments put forward in our brief. The CCA has since sent a letter to the Finance Minister asking him once again to consider our recommendation, which has been prepared at his express request.
And while we are on the issue of tax credits and exemptions, here’s an interesting quote from the House of Commons:
“. The credit would not be just for physical activity. It would have to be activity. If one is going to go down that route, one might as well go the whole way, and the whole way is one has to cover the artists, the musicians, the athletes, pretty well everyone. In which case, one might as well just raise the basic personal exemption and that way everybody benefits.” (John McKay, Lib. MP, October 27, 2006)
4. As part of the review of the Department of Canadian Heritage programs, the International Network for Cultural Diversity (INCD) has been refused funding by the department. The news was a bitter disappointment to those who have worked internationally through the work of the INCD. The future of INCD will be discussed at a meeting next week in Brazil. Canadian Heritage will however continue to provide funding for the Coalition on Cultural Diversity that works for the ratification by as many countries as possible of the UNESCO declaration on cultural diversity around the world. The CCA will continue to work with the Coalition on Cultural Diversity in the promotion of their mission. It is also important to note that the Canadian Commission on UNESCO is active in this area and engages a wide range of civil society interests in its work. What remains unclear with the government’s decision to stop funding the international secretariat of INCD is what will happen with the involvement of civil society in the cultural diversity file: since 1999, INCD had been responsible for organizing the civil society meetings, held in parallel with the annual meeting of cultural ministers.
5. The CCA is still watching for the report of the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions, due for early December, and the release of the Pre-Budget Report of the Standing Committee on Finance. The Standing Committee bases its report in part on the representations it has heard from a wide range of interests within Canadian society, industry and economic specialists.