Government repudiates 2/3 of pledged support for Canada Council
The federal Conservative government has effectively repudiated two-thirds of a $150 million cash injection promised last fall to the The Canada Council for the Arts. The budget announced on Tuesday gives the Council a mere $20 million in 2006-2007 and $30 million in 2007-2008.
And while Heritage Minister Bev Oda has said she'll work with the arts community to understand its needs, the flat fact was that the Council and the community was promised $150 million and, will get a third of that. It is a clear message about the priority that the arts and culture will get with this government.
The Canada Council supports over 100 mostly small, independent literary and cultural magzines and it is not clear how much of the $50 million will find its way to them since it must be spread among all arts disciplines.
It's understandable that a Magazines Canada accentuated what positives it could in its news release in the wake of the budget. Having played an active role in the Canadian Arts Coalition that won the increased investment from the previous Liberal government of Paul Martin, it needs to keep working with the government in power.
Magazines Canada tried to extract some joy from the announcement that donations of securities to charities will now be exempt from capital gains tax. However, very little of the approximately $300 million in additional annual donations to charities this is expected to engender will assist magazines, since Revenue Canada has made it all but impossible for magazine publishers to qualify as charities. It is, however, some good news for magazines that already have charitable status.
And while Heritage Minister Bev Oda has said she'll work with the arts community to understand its needs, the flat fact was that the Council and the community was promised $150 million and, will get a third of that. It is a clear message about the priority that the arts and culture will get with this government.
The Canada Council supports over 100 mostly small, independent literary and cultural magzines and it is not clear how much of the $50 million will find its way to them since it must be spread among all arts disciplines.
It's understandable that a Magazines Canada accentuated what positives it could in its news release in the wake of the budget. Having played an active role in the Canadian Arts Coalition that won the increased investment from the previous Liberal government of Paul Martin, it needs to keep working with the government in power.
Magazines Canada tried to extract some joy from the announcement that donations of securities to charities will now be exempt from capital gains tax. However, very little of the approximately $300 million in additional annual donations to charities this is expected to engender will assist magazines, since Revenue Canada has made it all but impossible for magazine publishers to qualify as charities. It is, however, some good news for magazines that already have charitable status.
posted by D. B. Scott at
12:09 am
3 Comments:
I'm confused by all these numbers. The Globe & Mail reports that funding for Arts & Culture is increasing by $50 million over two years. What are the real numbers, as opposed to promises? Is real money up or down, and by how much, both in hard numbers and percentages?
a) The federal Liberal government pledged $150 million over three years, presumably effective with this budget.
b) The Conservative government has now reduced this to $50 million over two years.
But, as demonstrated by what happened to a), even b) is not a sure thing; if the Conservative government is defeated or calls an election, all bets are off.
Well.. the liberals pledged a lot of things, like eliminating the gst on reading material, which never came to pass. They alos slahsed and burn the CBC ruthlessly and cut PAP too. What I'm still looking for, assuming the 20 million flows, is how much of an increase is this over prior year in percentage terms for culture and the arts?
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