David Farrell
Yesterday’s federal budget was clearly intended to mollify outspoken partisan groups, but the budgetary status-quo is likely the calm before the storm. The uneasy alliances forged with the Conservative minority will almost surely come undone over the next year, leading to an election call before the next budget. And the next budget is to be the one that promises to exact its pound of flesh from nationalists who believe cultural objectives must be preserved at any cost.
On the bright side, the Canada Music Fund has already re-negotiated a new five year deal that keeps funding intact through to 2014. There are no announced funding cuts to the CBC, Telefilm, the NFB and the Canada Council for the Arts, although critics argue that there are no Medianew funds available and, more important, no long-term funding commitments tabled.
A $25-million fund to kick-start the Canada Prizes for the Arts and Creativity is still in the buget, funded through the Economic Action Plan; however, details of the program, first announced in February of 2009, have yet to be announced. The arts initiative has garnered criticism and even hostility since the sketchy details that came with the announcement indicate that prize purses will not be restricted to Canadians.
The Canada Media Fund spanning TV production and New Media stays the course with $100-million in funding, but long-term funding is open to question.
The fox in the hen house in terms of arts and culture is the government’s decision to revue foreign ownership in the telecom industries. The argument favouring offshore investment is that Canada’s outdated and overly-expensive broadband infrastructure is in need of costly refurbishment. Allowing telecom industries to source investment capital and create global alliances is a fast-track solution to bringing Canada up to speed with other industrialized nations. However, critics argue that the boundaries between telephone, cable and content providers have at the very least blurred and more often the case have merged. Allowing increased foreign ownership, critics worry, could open the Pandora’s Box in undermining or even undoing Canada’s cultural content regulations.
Add to this list of worries the fact that the government intends to roll back departmental budgets and reduce the civil service and the status quo looks much less so. On the other hand, given the fact there are no major funding cuts, the arts and culture sectors can enjoy an uneasy respite before a real storm does hit.
Fingers crossed that the economy not only remains buoyant but flourishes as well.
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one day mr farrell, we’ll sit down over a beer and i’ll tell you of my experience, as an exhibiting artist in a downtown gallery, with the canada council…as with all bureaucracies, cultural or not, it has it’s failings which challenge loyalties!