What's New

Reaction to the Federal budget

February 24, 2005

Arts and heritage groups are voicing their opinions about Wednesday's Federal budget. The Ontario Museum Association has compiled reactions from three national organizations and one provincial newsletter on the impact to the cultural sector.

• Canadian Conference for the Arts
• Canadian Museums Association
• Cultural Human Resources Council
• The Arts Advocate

CCA BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA

TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY FOR THE ARTS AND CULTURE IN CANADA

Ottawa, February 23, 2005 - Finance Minister Ralph Goodale introduced his second federal budget in the House of Commons late this afternoon, and his first for Paul Martin’s Liberal minority government. Many in the arts and cultural sector across Canada have been on pins and needles over what this budget might have in store for the sector. For weeks, the Canadian media has been flush with rumours that this would be a “something for everyone” budget, though the arts, culture, and heritage sector have heard this song before and have rarely been invited to the dance.

Of primary concern to Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) and its members – would the essential Tomorrow Starts Today (TST) funding program, which began in 2001 with $560 million over three years, and was re-announced as a one year $192 initiative by Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla this past December, be extended long term?

CCA was pleased to find that Delivering on Commitments: Budget Plan 2005 does indeed include a substantial extension of the TST funding envelope. Page 99 of the document states:

“Budget 2005 further extends the $172 million of new funding per year for another four years, for a total of $688 million. This brings total new funding for Tomorrow Starts Today to $860 million over five years. This multi-year investment will help create stability within the arts and culture community by providing predictable levels of funding in the years to come.”

CCA appreciates this significant investment commitment and applauds Minister Goodale for heeding the advice of his colleagues on the Standing Committee on Finance, whose mid-December report made a unanimous recommendation to extend the TST program. However, it would appear that somewhere along the way, the entirety of the sector’s messages to the Finance Committee and the Finance Minister got lost, as the message of increased funding to the sector did not make its way into the budget in a substantial way. In fact, CCA is concerned that the TST program will be reduced by $20 million annually from 06-07 onwards. What programs will be affected? The estimates will tell, but are still weeks away. In short, yes, the renewal of TST represents much-needed multi-year funding, but the announced level will not adequately address growing financial needs.

“We are grateful for the extension of Tomorrow Starts Today,” said CCA National Director Jean Malavoy. “We congratulate Minister Frulla and her colleagues on this significant step, and we expect that this five-year extension represents the foundation on which increased funding for culture can be built.”

Overall, arts, culture and heritage still has a long way to go in terms of making itself a priority in the hearts and mind of this government, as Minister’s Goodale’s Budget Speech made but one reference to the sector when he said, “(Cities and Communities) are engines of growth, employment and innovation, centres of art, culture and learning.”

Funding for the CBC Also seeking long-term and sustainable funding was the CBC, who had been rumoured in the media to be receiving a funding bump to help increase its regional programming strategy. What the CBC appears to have received instead is the same single-year, $60 million funding “top-up” that has been present in the past few budgets. This would not represent any actual increase in core funding for the CBC, but would rather maintain the CBC’s funding at current levels for a single year, leaving the CBC unable to make long term programming decisions.

What else is in the budget for arts, culture and heritage?

- $5 million per year to the Multiculturalism Program

- $10 million per year to Celebrate Canada for “community-based events and activities”

- $46 million over five years to Parks Canada for “the restoration and preservation of Canada’s built heritage” and “to work with partners to implement a national register of historic places and conversation standards”

What is not there?

- No action on a recommendation from the Standing Committee on Finance for the federal government to increase the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit to 30%

- No specific mention of funding key, though unstable programs, which are essential elements of federal support of arts and culture, including but not limited to: the Canadian Television Fund and the Museums Assistance Program

- No mention of significant changes to EI and income taxation that would positively impact Canada’s professional artists and creators What is unclear?

- The agenda for “Cities and Communities” and its potential impact on arts, culture and heritage at local and regional levels remains vague at best. The government did announce a five year $5 billion plan to share gas tax revenues with municipalities and communities, so will citizens locally work to ensure that cultural initiatives are supported as well?

- $375 million over five years for the three federal research granting councils, which could potentially be accessed by the sector.

- Will increased funding of $800 million for regional economic development agencies in Atlantic Canada, Western Canada, Quebec and Northern Ontario allow dollars to flow to cultural initiatives?

More to come in the days and weeks ahead…

With Minister of Canadian Heritage Liza Frulla set to make telephone calls to the media and leaders in the cultural sector overnight, CCA hopes to have a clearer idea of the ministry’s intentions by the end of the week. We also anxiously await the release of the Main Estimates later on, so that we might see how the many specific programs that fall under the TST rubric may be affected.

CCA will continue to scrutinize the budget and monitor public statements about its contents, the results of which will be circulated via our bulletins, when necessary. As always, CCA will author a substantial, detailed analysis of the implications of the federal budget on Canada’s arts, culture and heritage sector, which will be available in both official languages in a couple of months.

For more information:

Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
info@ccarts.ca
www.ccarts.ca

CMA Advocacy Alert: Federal Budget Provides Longer-term Funding for Tomorrow Starts Today

Ottawa, February 23, 2005 - Finance Minister Ralph Goodale's federal budget, released today in Ottawa, provides $172 million per year for the next four years to support the Tomorrow Starts Today package of culture and heritage programs.

Today's announcement extends Tomorrow Starts Today funding through to 2009-2010. In December 2004, Heritage Minister Liza Frulla announced a one year extension for the 2005-2006 year. With this extension, the federal government is delivering much sought-after predictability in support levels to a range of culture and heritage programs.

Canada's museums will benefit directly from today's announcement. The Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program, which provides project funding for capacity building is one of several programs supported by Tomorrow Starts Today. The Canada Council for the Arts, which supports Canada's art museums, also receives support from this funding.

While the Canadian Museums Association had called for an increase in Museum Assistance Program funding, we are not discouraged by today's budget. The CMA is working closely with Minister Frulla and Canadian Heritage Department officials toward a new Canadian Museums Policy. We are very encouraged by the Minister's enthusiastic support of a new policy and look forward to its development over the coming months.

Today's news demonstrates that the federal government understands the need for predictable support for heritage programs. Tomorrow Starts Today funding is one of Minister Frulla's top priorities and today's announcement is an important achievement for her.

Tomorrow Starts Today: www.pch.gc.ca/tomorrowstartstoday

For more information, please contact:

Jim Everson Director of Government Relations
jeverson@museums.ca
(613) 567-0099, ext. 225

Cultural Human Resources Council

February 24, 2005 - Federal Budget encouraging for the arts and the Workplace Skills Strategy

The Federal budget has something for everyone. The majority of new money is going to defense and the environment, but there is encouraging news for arts and culture as well as for Sector Councils, through the Workplace Skills Strategy.

Arts and Culture

There are promises for more funding to protect and support Canadian culture, history and heritage which include:

• $172 million a year for Tomorrow Starts Today, over five years (a total of $860 million for the program), including $25 million a year for five years, for the Canada Council;
• $60 million more for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 2005-06;
• $5 million for the Multiculturalism program; $10 million for community based events that Celebrate Canada;
• $45 million over the next five years for Parks Canada to continue its efforts to create a national registry on historic places, and to ensure conservation standards and certification for restoration projects.

The Workplace Skills Strategy The government has been developing its Workplace Skills Strategy as a way to assist the labour force in acquiring the diverse skills they need for the modern workplace. Sector Councils play an important role in the delivery of this strategy. Support for the Workplace Skills Strategy includes:

• $25 million, over three years, for the Training Centre Infrastructure Fund, a pilot project to provide matching funds to union training centres to up date machinery and equipment
• $125 million, over the next three years, for the Workplace Skills Strategy which will include;
  • Strengthening apprenticeship systems in Canada
  • Working with workplace partners on innovative pilot projects designed to test skills development, targeted and the currently employed.

You can find Budget 2005 and supporting documents at www.fin.gc.ca

Lance Anderchuk
lander@culturalhrc.ca

The Arts Advocate

Federal budget, the morning after

The cultural sector is pleased and relieved with the federal government’s commitment to extend the Tomorrow Starts Today funding. Yesterday’s budget plan pledges $860 million in total for the program. Put another way that is $192 million in 2005-06 and $172 million each year for the four years following.

Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s budget reveals that the $192 million announced by the Canadian Heritage Minister Liza Frulla on 15 December 2004 included $172 million of continued new investment and a $20 million reallocation from within the Department of Canadian Heritage. While the Main Spending estimates will reveal specific details of the department’s spending, it is expected that the $192 million for next year will be allocated this way:

• Book publishing $10 million
• Sound recording $20 million
• Culture Online $36 million
• Canadian Culture Abroad $9 million Arts
  • ·Arts Presentation Canada
  • · Canada Council for the Arts
  • · Canadian Arts and Heritage Stabilization Program
  • · Cultural Capitals
  • · Cultural Spaces
  • · National Arts Training Contributions $117 million

  Total $192 million

In addition, the budget pledges another $60 million for the CBC, something that has become a standing feature of budgets of late, not a permanent addition to their base.

The budget was silent on a number of other issues central to the cultural sector, many of which were recommended for action by the House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance in December. Not addressed in the budget were:

• · Museums and heritage;
• · Any measures for film and television, including the Canadian Television Fund or the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit;
• · Initiatives to enhance and encourage private sector giving, specifically measures around capital gains exemptions.

Cultural Sector Response

The degree of stakeholder responses varies from warm to cool, with most saying they are pleased with Finance Minister Ralph Goodale’s budget, but noting that the long-term government plans for the cultural sector are not clear.

According to CBC’s Arts Report, Conservative Culture Critic Bev Oda captured much of the sentiment. They quote the MP saying, “The government was responding to our demands on behalf of the cultural community, but there are no significant new commitments. Tomorrow Starts Today should become an ‘a-based program’ getting permanent funding”. (Bev Oda introduced a motion to this effect to the Standing Committee on Heritage in December. It received all party support.)

Here is a digest of some reaction from the sector:

Karen Kain, Chair, Canada Council for the Arts “This is wonderful news, not only for the Canada Council, but also for the thousands of artists and arts organizations who receive Council funding,” she said. “I think this will allow the arts community to breathe a little easier, and we greatly appreciate the government’s efforts in making this happen.” She went on to note that this will not solve all the Canada Council’s funding woes, “but it’s a good start.”

Guy Mayson, President, Canadian Film and Television Production Association “Producers are pleased to see that many of the key cultural and funding agencies like the CTF, Telefilm and NFB were not subject to some of the cuts that were going on in Ottawa. We believe the government has listened to us. We believe this signals Ottawa is now on side with the reality that investment in cultural industries is worthwhile and beneficial.”

Jean Malavoy, National Director, Canadian Conference of the Arts “We are grateful for the extension of Tomorrow Starts Today…..We expect that this five-year extension represents the foundation on which increased funding for culture can be built.”

Micheline McKay
mmckay@artsadvocate.com

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