CCA Bulletin 32/11

November 17, 2011

Federal budget: Economic and Fiscal Update and the Second Set of Supplementary Estimates

Just the facts
Last week, the government released its Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections . One main message emerged from the document: owing to continued weakness in the global economy, downward revisions for economic growth in Canada and considerable economic uncertainty going forward, the government will not return to fiscal balance until 2015-2016, a year later than projected in Budget 2011.

This does not alter the seriousness and resolve of the government to adhere to the Strategic and Operating Review process, through which it aims to identify $4 billion in annual ongoing reductions in expenditures by 2014-2015. At the heart of this process, all federal organizations must identify five and ten-percent funding reduction scenarios (see the CCA’s 2011-12 Federal Budget Analysis for full details of the review process).

The government also announced that it is reducing the maximum potential increase in Employment Insurance premium rates in 2012 to five cents (down from 10 cents) and is extending the Work-Share Program enhancement, which provides an extension of up to 16 weeks for work-sharing agreements.

Tell me more
In addition, the government recently released the second set of Supplementary Estimates for the 2011-12 fiscal year (the CCA reported on the first set, Supplementary Estimates A, in the 2011 federal budget analysis).

From the point of view of the cultural sector, many of the announcements in Supplementary Estimates B formally enact spending announcements for 2011-12 already made in Budget 2011, notably:

the $60 million top-up to the CBC;
an additional $15 million to the Canada Periodical Fund; and,
the renewal of the Canada Media Fund at a level of $100 million per year.

A number of new funding announcements for the Department of Canadian Heritage were included in this set of Supplementary Estimates, although very few pertain directly to the arts and culture sector:

an additional $4.8 million to the Celebration and Commemoration Program to support the bicentennial commemoration of the War of 1812 (the Canadian Museum of Civilization also received $665,000 for this purpose);
an additional $29.7 million to the Aboriginal Peoples Program to fund “civic participation of Aboriginal youths living in urban settings” and for “Aboriginal Communities in the preservation of their languages”;
an additional $13.5 million to the Games’ Hosting Program, for capital expenditures related to the Toronto 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games;
$2.7 million related to “government advertising programs”; and,
$231,000 to support ”the corporate alliance and commercial operator revenues arising from Expo 2010 and its contract with Cirque du Soleil which the department remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund”.

The Department of Canadian Heritage also received two transfers of funds from other federal organizations:

$207,000 from Indian Affairs and Northern Development to promote activities related to National Aboriginal Day; and,
$20,000 from the Canada Council for “statistical analysis and research summaries on the arts”.

In addition, the Department transferred funds to various federal agencies for a variety of purposes:

$50,000 to the Canada Council to support research on the state of and future of arts presentation in the country;
$127,000 to the Canada Council to support “multilateral cooperation projects in French language, as well as to ensure Canada’s participation in meetings of the Commission internationale du théâtre francophone”;
$150,000 to the NAC for Zones théâtrales which foster “exposure to Canadian francophone communities’ and Quebec regions’ professional theatre”;
$446,000 to Library and Archives Canada “to fund film acquisition and preservation activities” as part of the Canadian Feature Film Policy;
$437,000 to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for research on sport participation; and,
$175,000 to Veterans Affairs for the Historica-Dominion Institute’s Memory Project, which helps to “educate Canadian youth about the importance of remembrance”.

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