CHPC Committee Report

On March 2, 2009, the Committee heard testimony from Mr. John Lambert, an agent who represents artists in the performing arts from British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. A number of his clients perform in both Canada and other countries. He emphasized that the Canadian market is limited and that Canadian artists had to perform abroad in order to make a reasonably good living.

Mr. Lambert relied on the Arts Promotion Program to pay part of the travel and equipment transportation costs. PromArt covered about 20% of the total costs. Mr. Lambert stressed that because he used Canadian passenger and freight transportation companies, the money invested remained in the Canadian economy.

Mr. Lambert argued that cancelling the Arts Promotion Program would have a destabilizing effect on Canada ’s cultural industries. It is a sector in which Canada should spend more, not less.

Mr. Lambert said that foreign tours would be cancelled in 2009-2010 because contracts had been signed before the decision to terminate the Program was announced. Foreign producers were becoming more reluctant to enter into agreements with Canadian producers. Canadian producers will lose the competitive advantage they have over other countries, such as Australia , the United Kingdom and France , which continue to support foreign tours.[35] Mr. Lambert suggested that the Committee examine other funding options, such as turning over administration of the Arts Promotion Program to the Canadian Council for the Arts (CCA), with an increased budget.

Next, Ms. Robin Jackson, Executive Director of the Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund explained the repercussions of cancelling the CIFVF. CIFVF management said they were surprised by the program’s cancellation because the conclusions of the 2007-2008 evaluation report on the National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector had been positive.[36] This appeared to be confirmed by the signing of a contribution agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage. The notice that the CIFVF received from Canadian Heritage in August 2008 stated that the contribution agreement was being terminated because it was no longer a priority for the government. Canadian Heritage said that it was giving priority to feature films for the cinema instead of documentaries. Ms. Jackson said that over the longer term, there would be a harmful impact on students still in school and on documentary makers in the early stages of their career.

In Ms. Jackson’s opinion, the CCA would not be able to effectively replace the CIFVF, because its budget in that area is inadequate and it focuses on assisting artists rather than producers. The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is not in a position to replace the CIFVF, either. The CIFVF estimates that about 100 producers may not receive the final payment for their current projects, as Canadian Heritage is refusing to provide funds for projects that are not completed by March 31, 2009.[37] In addition, the CIFVF will have administrative costs of more than $100,000 associated with the cessation of its operations.

Mr. Max Berdowski, Executive Director of the Canadian Screen Training Centre (CSTC), testified before the Committee along with Mr. Marc Robitaille, a screenwriter. The CSTC is one of four Canadian organizations that provide film and video training in Canada . For the last 29 years, the CSTC has been providing top-notch training to 500 students a year. A number of them have made a name for themselves on the national and international scene.

Like many other witnesses, Mr. Berdowski maintained that arts and culture are economic drivers that must be supported in difficult economic times. He cited, as did a number of other witnesses, the recent study by the Conference Board of Canada which stated that the economic footprint of Canada 's cultural sector in 2007 was $84.6 billion, or 7.4% of the country's total real GDP, based on its direct, indirect and induced effects. [38]

Ms. Amy House, President of the Association of Cultural Industries of Newfoundland and Labrador, explained that the cancellation of the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program had left significant gaps in Canadian cultural producers’ ability to interest foreign markets in their products and organize tours to present their works to foreign audiences. For example, it will be impossible to honour some agreements, e.g. the one with Tasmania. The provincial government has accordingly been “forced to provide $250,000 in support to Newfoundland and Labrador artists and groups to account for these cuts to export programming.”[39]

Ms. Lucy White is Executive Director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT), an organization that represents more than 140 professional for-profit and not-for-profit theatre companies in Canada , excluding Quebec. The support provided by the various federal arts and culture programs is crucial, particularly in an economic crisis. The PACT is pleased with the additional investment of $30 million in the CCA and Cultural Spaces Canada. However, cancellation of the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program could halt the development of international markets for artists and arts organizations.[40] One of the recommendations made by the association to the Committee was to increase the CCA budget to support international market development and touring for the arts and culture sector.

Mr. Pierre MacDuff, the Executive Director of Les Deux Mondes theatre company, referred to the Arts Promotion Program several times. The Program supported tours by the theatre company to more than 200 cities in 32 countries. Performing outside the country is a necessity in the theatre industry, according to Mr. MacDuff. It is an opportunity to meet and develop other audiences and earn more revenues from a play over a longer performance period. In addition, the fees that the company receives in foreign countries, particularly for children’s theatre, are often higher than the fees paid in Canada. However, Mr. MacDuff stressed that touring foreign countries benefits all of Canada:

How many times have we heard Canadian embassy staff tell us, at the end of a performance, that we had done more to promote Canadian values in one evening than they had been able to do themselves in months and months of discussions and networking on the ground.[41]

Mr. MacDuff emphasized that Canadian transportation companies benefited most from the assistance and that the money stayed in Canada.[42] He criticized the lack of consultation prior to the Arts Promotion Program’s cancellation. Mr. MacDuff suggested that the Government of Canada inject additional funds into CCA to continue to support for foreign tours.

The Committee heard testimony from Mr. Jim Everson, Executive Director of Public Affairs for Magazines Canada. Magazines Canada is a national trade association representing leading Canadian-owned, Canadian-content, general-interest, cultural, specialty, professional and business magazines. Mr. Everson reiterated how important it was for the federal government to continue investing in the magazine sector. The current economic slowdown and Canada Post’s 2006 decision to eliminate its $15 million annual contribution have affected the sector’s financial health. Magazines Canada also welcomed the announcement made by the Minister of Canadian Heritage on February 17 concerning the establishment of the Canada Periodical Fund. Mr. Everson noted, however, that it would be necessary to clearly define the guidelines and eligibility criteria to include certain special categories of magazines.[43]

Mr. Alain Dancyger, Executive Director of Les Grands Ballets canadiens de Montréal, agreed to testify and describe the Montréal dance troupe’s export activities. Exporting the troupe’s productions to other countries dates back to the 1950s. With 33 performances this season, Les Grands Ballets canadiens de Montréal will reach more than 53,000 people around the world.[44]

Preparing a foreign tour requires complex planning, which includes negotiating contracts guaranteeing Les Grands Ballets’ appearance at least three years in advance. In addition, through the Trade Routes Program, 40 international presenters were able to see the troupe perform in Paris, which resulted in a tour of the Middle East (June 2009). Negotiations are under way with the Bregenz festivals in Austria, Cologne and Berlin, the Ravenna Festival and the Venice Biennale: and tours are being finalized in Italy (2010), France, Holland and the United Kingdom (2011).

In Mr. Dancyger’s view, it is essential for the federal government to continue supporting the export activities of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal. The Montreal market is not big enough to ensure the troupe’s survival. The company’s export activities are a necessity. However, Les Grands Ballets is up against international competitors that enjoy continuous support, in some cases increased support, from their governments.[45] Elimination of the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program is further jeopardizing an art form that depends on public funding. Tours have been cancelled for the 2009-2010 season. Mr. Dancyger believes that the long-term survival of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal is in doubt without financial support for the troupe’s exports.

The Canadian Art Museum Directors’ Organization (CAMDO) also appeared before the Committee in the person of its Executive Director, Mr. Robert Labossière. Arts and culture programs are support mechanisms that help art museum directors lead their institutions. Canada’s art museums give local and national communities a sense of coherence and meaning, which in turn gives citizens a sense of responsibility and pride.

Ms. Lorraine Hébert, Executive Director of the Regroupement québécois de la danse, spoke on behalf of the entire professional dance community in Quebec. Ms. Hébert pointed out that dance is special because it is neither Québécois nor Canadian, but international. For example, nearly a third of the performers in Quebec dance companies are from other countries.[46]

Through the years, federal government funding to support and foster international outreach activities by Quebec dance companies has kept dance alive in Quebec and Canada . [47] The economics of dance requires exports, and domestic markets in Quebec and Canada are not large enough to ensure the survival of dance troupes.

In concrete terms, the elimination of the Arts Promotion Program means that companies have to invest more money from their operating funds. It then has to make agonizing choices between honouring a touring contract, which means reducing the budget for its next production, and “deciding to engage in no creative work whatsoever for the next two years.”[48] In the latter case, layoffs of employees and performers are inevitable. To avoid this situation, the CCA should be given $3 to $4 million of additional funding.[49]

Ms. Jennifer Dorner, National Director of the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA), explained the strategic review’s consequences for film, video and new media production, distribution and presentation organizations. The IMAA surveyed its members concerning the strategic review, with particular emphasis on media arts programs.

Of the thousands of answers it received, not one reflected a negative opinion about these programs.[50]

As in the dance sector, some organizations in the media arts industry are concerned that they will be unable to continue their arts activities without financial support from the federal government. The IMAA identified the CIFVF and Trade Routes as absolutely essential programs for the dissemination of independent media art. The short-term consequence of eliminating those programs will be increased pressure on the CCA. However, the CCA’s media arts division has a smaller budget than all the other divisions (music, theatre, writing, publishing and visual arts), even though media art is the fastest-growing sector, according to Ms. Dorner.[51]

The IMAA had three recommendations for the Committee. First, the federal government should reinstate funding to the media arts programs. Second, the programs of the Department of Canadian Heritage should be restructured and expanded to include independent media arts. Third, the federal government should invest in the CCA’s media arts division so that it can address the needs of a growing industry.

Mr. Alain Paré is President of the International Exchange for the Performing Arts (CINARS). The organization was founded to support the export of Canadian performing arts to other countries. The organization is particularly concerned about the cancellation of the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program. It conducted an in-house survey of 64 respondents to identify the repercussions of the government’s decision. According to Mr. Paré:

In the next three years, 327 international tours would be compromised, representing some 3,395 shows across the globe and losses of more than $24 million.... Companies are living through a real nightmare. They can no longer undertake tours, or they must run a deficit. Foreign talent buyers are now turning to other countries to fill their show calendars. In the long term, Canada is putting itself in a position from which it will be very difficult to recover.[52]

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Mr. Paré felt that the disappearance of some performing arts companies was a plausible scenario. CINARS is asking the federal government for the immediate reinstatement of the funding so that the tours planned for 2009 and 2010 can go ahead as scheduled.[53] In Mr. Paré’s view, the CCA would be the appropriate agency to manage the budgets because it uses independent juries. In the medium and long term, CINARS is calling for ”an increase in the budgets dedicated to the export of the performing arts.”[54] It would be concrete evidence that the federal government is providing adequate support to arts companies.

Mr. Martin Faucher testified as President of the Conseil québécois du theatre (CQT). Echoing other witnesses heard by the Committee, Mr. Faucher stressed that the Quebec and Canadian markets are limited, and that international presentations of Quebec works are essential because they extend theatrical runs.[55]

The CQT maintains that the federal government is responsible for taking the appropriate action to support drama artists on global markets. Every G8 nation, including England , Germany and France , supports its artists in their tours of other countries. Consequently, the CQT requested the full reinstatement of the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program so that the companies would not be deprived of financial resources on April 1, 2009. The CQT also recommended that the funds be transferred to the CCA programs that support international touring.[56]

Ms. Shannon Litzenberger is Executive Director of the Canadian Dance Assembly (CDA), which represents more than 350 professional dance organizations. Financial support from the Arts Promotion and Trade Routes programs is needed so that dance and arts organizations can be competitive in a global economy. Ms. Litzenberger was critical of the fact that these programs were cancelled without consultations with those who benefited from them.

On behalf of the professional dance industry, Ms. Litzenberger asked the Committee to recommend $12 million in additional funding to support international touring and foster the development of new foreign markets for Canadian cultural products.[57] The CDA also recommended that the Canadian Arts and Heritage Sustainability Program be renewed to include an endowment fund for capacity-building measures for small and mid-sized organizations. Lastly, the Committee was asked to support the proposal for $100 million in new permanent investment for the CCA.[58]

Mr. Édouard Lock is the Artistic Director and founder of the La La La Human Steps dance company. Since it was established in 1980, the troupe has performed in prestigious venues such as New York, Paris and London. Such tours have had a positive impact on the troupe’s development and recognition on the international scene. Financially, the funds generated through international co-productions make up 80 percent of the company's revenues. For La La La Human Steps, cancellation of the Arts Promotion Program could mean a loss of prestige and credibility that took years to acquire. Mr. Lock maintained that invitations to perform in other countries were the result of the troupe's excellent and unique artistic product. According to Mr. Lock, the strength of the Arts Promotion Program is that it supports and rewards success.[59]

In the second hour of the March 7 meeting, the Committee heard testimony from Mr. Stanley Péan, President of the Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois (UNEQ). Mr. Péan began by addressing the question of the international promotion of works by the UNEQ’s members through federal government support. It is important to note that the Arts Promotion Program benefited publishers, who received assistance toward the payment of travel costs for writers invited to meet with their foreign readers at book fairs and launches and other activities connected to book promotion outside Canada . In all, half a dozen Quebec publishers obtained financial support from the Arts Promotion Program to send their writers on tours of foreign countries. In 2008, the Association nationale des éditeurs de livres received funding from the Trade Routes Program to take part in book fairs in Bordeaux and London.[60] According to Mr. Péan, it is wrong to say that the two programs were poorly managed and ineffective.

Mr. Jacques Blain, a member of the board of directors of the Institut national de l’image et du son (INIS), and Mr. Jean Hamel, the INIS’s Director of Communications, spoke about the strategic review’s impact on the INIS. The INIS is a professional training centre that contributes to the development of the film, television and interactive media industries in Quebec and Canada . Since it began operating in January 1996, the INIS has trained 381 professionals who work as screenwriters, directors and producers. The federal government has provided $14 million in funding to the INIS since it was established.

On Friday, August 8, 2008, the INIS was informed that the National Training Program for the Film and Video Sector, funded by Canadian Heritage and administered by Telefilm Canada , would not be extended beyond April 1, 2009. For the INIS, cancellation of this program means the loss of some $900,000 annually, or almost 25 percent of its operating budget. Moreover, the INIS no longer has access to the Canada New Media Fund, another program funded by Canadian Heritage. With the disappearance of this funding source, the shortfall in its operating budget stemming from the loss of federal contributions will exceed $1 million. In concrete terms, the INIS’s very existence is threatened, according to its executives. To remedy the situation, the INIS plans to obtain funding through the National Arts Training Program, whose budget was increased in the last federal budget.

Ms. Colette Brouillé is Executive Director of the Réseau indépendant des diffuseurs d’événements artistiques unis (RIDEAU), the largest network of French-speaking arts event presenters in Canada . RIDEAU was founded 30 years ago and now has 150 members based in over 200 entertainment venues across Quebec, and three member networks in French-speaking Canada as a whole.

Every year, the organization holds the Bourse RIDEAU, the largest francophone performing arts market. It is an event where Canadian companies can sign contracts and reach agreements. Shows from other countries make up 10% of the Bourse RIDEAU’s arts programming, and most of them will subsequently mount a Canadian tour. The artists’ home countries pay the international transportation costs when they present them at the Bourse RIDEAU and later on tour. RIDEAU pays the ground transportation costs and accommodation expenses in Canada . In 2009, RIDEAU received $16,000 in financial support from the Trade Routes Program. In contrast, the Arts Promotion Program withdrew its support three months before the event.[61]

Ms. Brouillé stated that the government’s cuts, especially in the Arts Promotion Program and the Trade Routes Program, will put an end to the reciprocity, wiping out years of work. Consequently, the Department of Canadian Heritage needs to find alternative solutions, since presenter networks are not eligible for CCA programs. [62]

The Deputy Minister, Ms. Judith Larocque, provided an explanation of the Strategic Review of Program Expenditures conducted by the Department of Canadian Heritage in 2008. She pointed out that the Department reviewed its program expenditures on a regular basis. To advise the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Department’s officials:

try to determine whether, for example, the program examined continues to serve the interests of Canadians, whether it fulfils a legitimate role of the government, whether there are partners better equipped to deliver the program, such as the private or volunteer sector, whether the program enables the federal government to fulfil a responsibility within its field of jurisdiction, whether it is effective, whether it is affordable within the current economic context, and whether it performs well for Canadians.[63]

Treasury Board asked federal government departments to identify the 5% of spending out of their total budget that went to the lowest-priority and worst-performing programs. The term "low priority" also includes programs that have achieved their original goals or become outdated because of the development of new technologies. Then, recommendations were made to the government, which in turn made the final decision based on its priorities. Ms. Larocque noted, however, that in the case of the Department of Canadian Heritage, it was more accurate to say that 3.4% of its total expenditures were affected by the strategic review.[64]

Ms. Larocque informed the members of the Committee that the budget review process is covered by Cabinet secrecy. All documents, opinions and advice provided to the government are Cabinet decisions and cannot be disclosed.

Ms. Larocque pointed out that the Arts Promotion Program was a DFAIT program and was therefore not included in her Department’s strategic review. With regard to the Trade Routes Program, Ms. Larocque explained that it was expensive to operate and that there were other ways of supporting Canada ’s cultural industries.[65] In regard to funding recipients directly affected by the elimination of certain programs, Ms. Larocque made the following suggestions:

For book exports, for example, there is $4.8 million from the Department of Canadian Heritage to assist book exporters. At the NFB, there is $900,000, no doubt to assist in promoting documentaries internationally. At Telefilm Canada , there is $1.9 million specifically to ensure a Canadian presence at the biennial events in Germany , at the Cannes Film Festival, and there is $1.8 million at FACTOR and the Musicaction Foundation for international music, and that’s in addition to $13 million available at the Canada Council specifically for tours. I should add that there is still $5 million in the Trade Routes Program this year.[66]

Recipients affected by the strategic review were contacted by the responsible managers and officers by telephone or by mail. The information was also posted on the Department’s website.