CCA Bulletin 26/11

August 11, 2011

The CCA urges the government to invest in a

renewable resource: culture

Just the Facts

Today, the Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) submitted its 2012 pre-budget submission to the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Finance. In consultation with our membership, we encourage the government to maintain and if possible, increase its investments in Canadian artistic creativity, a renewable, non-polluting natural resource that contributes greatly to the economy, to our quality of life and to our standing in the world.  

Tell me more

The CCA has taken a reasoned stance as to why the federal government should invest in arts, culture and heritage. This sector makes a strong contribution to the Canadian economy, and must be supported in order to create more jobs and induce creative growth within the knowledge economy.  The CCA’s arguments echo this statement recently made by the Minister of Canadian Heritage, James Moore:

“To invest in arts and culture and to support the creative economy is to support the economy as a whole.” (The Hon. James Moore, Heritage Minister, on CBC’s Q, Tuesday, July 12, 2011)

The CCA’s 2012 submission is framed around the themes set by the standing committee, namely: how to achieve sustained economic recovery in Canada; how to create quality sustainable jobs; how to ensure relatively low rates of taxation; and, how to achieve a balanced budget.

The CCA proposed three recommendations in its submission, the limit set by the committee:

• Maintain, and if possible, increase the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts to $300 million as soon as possible;

• Invest $40 million of new money into domestic touring and the development of foreign markets;

• Change the rules for Registered Retirement Saving Plans to allow self-employed workers to use the year of revenue being taxed to be the reference year for establishing the level of RRSP contribution.

The CCA also points to the fact that the government has other tools it can use to bolster the cultural sector’s contribution to the Canadian economy. First and foremost is to include the development and production of Canadian content in the national digital strategy.  The CCA adds that an economic strategy focused on sustainability must respect intellectual property. This means that we must modernize the Copyright Act in such a way that artists and creators, like other intellectual workers, receive fair payment for their innovation and creativity.

Secondly, the CCA submits that like all other divisions of the Canadian economy, the arts and culture sector and different levels of government need accurate and timely statistics to plan and evaluate policies and programs. The regularity of labour market data, export activity and new forms of cultural activity are essential instruments to cultivate what is certain to become a dominant post-industrial element of the Canadian economy. It is the CCA’s hope that the government will continue to support Statistics Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage in developing a satellite account for culture as has been done for tourism, transport and the voluntary sector.

What can I do?

Read our pre-budget submission and write a letter to the Clerk of the Standing Committee on Finance   to support the CCA’s recommendations. Do not delay. The deadline is tomorrow, August 12 at 5 pm!

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