Looking for places for stimulus investment, Mr. Flaherty? How about the arts?

It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to stand up to your hips in the swirling waters of an economic crisis and and suggest the federal government ante up for the arts, but that's precisely what the Canadian Conference of the Arts has done. The CCA has sent a pre-budget submission to Flaherty and the opposition parties in which it says the arts and culture sector is precisely the kind of place to invest as part of the expected $25 billion plus economic stimulus package.

"Given the structures already in place, the sector can quickly mobilize the talents and dedication of artists, creators and arts professionals and of other sectors of the economy to achieve the objectives of creating jobs, increasing economic and creative activity," [the CCA said in a release] "while at the same time enriching our sense of Canadian identity, enhancing our image abroad and supporting our other international trade objectives."

While they speak for all the arts, the CCA's positioning is important to the literary and cultural magazine sector in Canada and could have some longer term benefits if they are successful in convincing finance minister Jim Flaherty that several of their recommendations are in the best interests of the future of the Harper Conservative government.

Freelancers and literary and cultural magazines will be in particular interested in the CCA's suggestions for investments in mentorship and internship, changes in tax exemptions on copyright payments and a tax exemption for grants to artists and arts organizations.

Of course, a casual observer could get whiplash trying to keep up with the Harper government's views on the arts, on surpluses and deficits, and so on, but we live in hope.)

Among the CCA's list of places to spend some of that stimulus money:

• at least $ 1.5 million a year for the next five years in the creation of a mentorship/internship program for the cultural sector.
• an additional $ 40 million per year into the expansion of the capacity and mandate of the Canada Council for the Arts Audience and Market Development Program.
• an additional $ 100 million for the Department of Canadian Heritage to invest over the next four years in the Cultural Spaces program to allow more communities and organizations to proceed with their capital development plans.
• $ 5 million per year for the next four years into the design and implementation of a national cultural research strategy.
  
• an annual allocation of $ 50 million to the development of a multi-platform and new media Canadian content fund.
• creation of a $ 30, 000 exemption on revenue deriving from copyright and residual payments and complete tax exemption to grants to individual artists and creators.

The pre-budget consultuation and comment period is over the Christmas holiday period and ends January 9, so the CCA is recommending that people who are interested should find out more about the consultation process here and indicate their support for these ideas at the Department of Finance website.