Thank you, and good afternoon.
PACT represents over 140 professional not-for-profit and for-profit theatre companies in English Canada. We are a member of the Performing Arts Alliance and a founder of the Canadian Arts Coalition.
I'm very pleased to be able to speak to you today about the contributions made by our members and the arts community as a whole to the high quality of life enjoyed by Canadian citizens, and about the critical role government policy and support play in ensuring access and opportunity for all Canadians. The current global crisis places Canadian arts organizations in a precarious position not of their making. Current federal government programs and recently announced funding increases go only part way to stabilizing the arts and culture sector. Cancellation of some programs threatens to topple other activities in this sector.
We thank the federal government for the recent increase of $30 million to the base budget of the Canada Council for the Arts and for an additional one-time funding increase to Cultural Spaces Canada. Equally important is the continuation of a national arts training contribution program. These economic measures are invaluable to the sector and send an important message to Canadians that there is federal government confidence in the arts and culture sector.
In contrast, the cancellation of PromArt at Foreign Affairs and Trade Routes at Canadian Heritage threaten to destabilize the performing arts in Canada and to close down, first, the development of international markets and, second, the existing market in international touring by artists and arts organizations. At present, the overall trade deficit in cultural services for Canada was $919 million in 2004. We cannot expect this deficit to become a surplus until Canadian artists have their creations exposed to the world stage.
A healthy and thriving performing arts sector requires ongoing complementary government support in five key interrelated areas: arts training, production, domestic access, and touring; international market development and touring; financial stability and organizational help; and cultural infrastructure. These five key areas represent the spectrum of a vast amount of arts activity currently taking place in Canada, and there is real and immediate potential for the destabilizing of a large number of performing arts companies when any one program area is significantly reduced or eliminated. Of course, the reverse is true as well. Increased activity and viability result from investments by the government in strategic departments and programs that support the arts. An increased investment in arts and culture will secure current and future prosperity for Canada. It will secure the sector's contribution of $25 billion in taxes for all levels of government and $46 billion input into the GDP--economic returns that cannot be generated for Canada by an arts and culture sector in recession. A thriving arts sector will contribute to Canada's success as a leader in a global society.
Today we are making five specific recommendations to this committee. First, increase the base budget of the Canada Council by $100 million per year. Second, re-invest a minimum of $12 million in international market development and touring for the arts and culture sector. Such funding is to be allocated to the Canada Council and other established agencies to ensure the maximum efficiency and impact of the investment. Third, continue the endowment incentives program past 2010. Fourth, the announcement needs to be made at the earliest opportunity to create a program of investments that will provide bridge funding to arts organizations over the short term in order to ensure that they remain viable in this period of economic recession. Fifth, renew the Cultural Spaces Canada program to provide a knowable level of base funding to encourage the capital campaigns on which arts and cultural facilities projects rely and to contribute to the local economies in which these capital projects will occur.
Previously, this committee has made bold and visionary recommendations such as doubling the budget of the Canada Council for the Arts. Today we call on the standing committee to recommend that the Government of Canada invest in the arts and culture in all economic stimulus measures in order to increase Canada's competitive advantage.
I thank the committee for your thoughtful consideration in the past and urge you to continue to show your support for the arts and culture sector.
Thank you for your time today.