Good day.
The Ontario Museum Association, or OMA, represents some 600 museums, art galleries, and historic sites, both large and small, in every corner of Ontario. We appreciate this opportunity to present the views of Ontario museums to the direction of the federal 2007 budget.
We fully support the Canadian Museums Association's call for the implementation of the new Canadian museums policy, and appreciate that Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda recently signalled the urgency of this matter. We are working with Minister Oda and her Ontario counterpart, Minister Caroline Di Cocco, to ensure that museums in Ontario contribute to the vitality and prosperity of our citizens and communities.
The key to long-term business planning and growth for museums all across Canada is predictability in revenue. The OMA urges the government to implement a robust policy framework that allows that predictable, sustainable public support. An appropriately funded federal program, in concert with more adequate provincial and municipal support, will give Canadians the opportunity to enjoy the full potential that museums can offer.
I assure you museums do make a difference. Museums are integral to the quality of community life and the appeal of a community. Museums provide unique services to communities all across Canada by preserving our collective memory, telling our stories, and passing on a rich legacy to future generations. Museums reach out to all demographics, including children, youth, and new Canadians. Canadian parents view museums as one of the most important places for educating their children, along with schools and libraries.
Museums also provide opportunities for civic engagement and volunteerism. Museum volunteers contribute work valued at more than $40 million per year across Canada. Museums also contribute to Canada's cultural infrastructure. Ontario museums contributed $355 million to the provincial GDP in 2001, and obviously the full economic impact is much higher through service industries. Museums help to create a well-educated, creative, and competitive labour force. They provide employment to 11,700 workers across Ontario. Canadians and visitors from abroad value our museums. Total attendance at Ontario museums is almost 19 million a year, which is a 12% increase over the past 10 years.
The Ontario Museum Association joins with its partners like the Canadian Museums Association in calling on the federal government to implement a new museums policy that adequately and appropriately supports museums in Ontario and throughout the country. Investments in Canada's cultural infrastructure are as important as those made to support public infrastructure in areas such as transportation, schools, and hospitals. Attractive and vibrant cities and communities are places where people want to live, invest, and work.
Support of our heritage organizations like museums is the responsibility of all levels of government. No level of government can do it alone. It is incumbent on the federal government to assume the leadership at the national level in the implementation of a museums policy that will work in concert with other governments across the country.
It is important that the federal government's role extend beyond federal museums to include the viability and growth of locally run museums, which are essential to local economies and to preserving the history of local communities across Canada. Each museum tells an important part of the Canadian story.
We ask the Standing Committee on Finance to endorse our recommendations calling for new and predictable, sustainable funding to allow museums greater ability to contribute to Canada's social, economic, and cultural economy.
Merci.