Mr. Vice-chair, ladies and gentlemen, members of the committee.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.
Culture Montréal would like to emphasize the importance of maintaining and strengthening support for culture and the arts as a way of stimulating the economy.
Culture Montréal is an independent organization and place for reflection and action that contributes to building Montreal's future as a cultural metropolis through research, analysis, and communication activities. Culture Montréal contributes to the branding of Montreal as a cultural metropolis at the national and international levels.
Over the years, many studies have shown that culture and the arts are powerful levers for social and economic development. The arts and culture sector is resilient, very flexible and creates jobs. Investing in it stimulates the economy, thereby helping the federal government in its bid to rebalance the budget.
A recent study done by the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal, Culture in Montreal: Economic Impacts and Private Funding, found that the cultural sector generates close to 100,000 direct jobs in the city, with an annual growth rate of 4.6% for the last 10 years, almost three times the total labour market average.
Another study carried out in 2009, L’économie des arts en temps de crise, showed the instability of artistic and cultural organizations in Quebec while also highlighting their exceptional resilience and flexibility during the economic downturn. Cultural organizations proposed various short-term solutions and came up with innovative long-term solutions that would encourage development and protect the sector from future economic disruptions.
Culture Montréal believes that to improve the competitiveness of the Canadian economy, Canada must pursue its strategic plans to encourage investment, creating sustainable jobs that will last beyond Canada's Economic Action Plan. This is why looking ahead to the 2011 budget, Culture Montréal recommends that the federal government increase its investment in the arts and culture sector to ensure that it grows and to maximize the economic and social spinoffs; that it encourage international recognition for Canadian artists and creators; that it contribute more to developing and maintaining cultural infrastructure, and more specifically increasing and improving areas to create, produce and broadcast and that it continue developing the Lachine canal, Old Montreal, the Old Port of Montreal and the Bassins du Nouveau Havre; that it establish new support measures for encouraging attendance at artistic and cultural events and for acquiring works of art; that it enact legislation to preserve and value our cultural heritage and pair it with an action plan with the provinces and territories, in keeping with the international conventions Canada has signed; that it establish a policy to integrate arts and architecture in federal buildings and that it increase access to employment insurance for all self-employed workers to create a better social safety net in Canada.
Without taking away from what we have already accomplished, the legislation should contain provisions allowing self-employed workers to join a public employment insurance system.
In conclusion, we wish to have the Government of Canada recognize the essential contribution of artists to the social and economic development of Canada and of Canadians, and that this recognition be made clear in all its policies, programs and bills. Bill C-32, An Act to amend the Copyright Act, for instance, must guarantee artists adequate compensation and value intellectual property. Creators, like all other Canadians, must be able to make a decent living from the fruits of their labour.
Thank you for your attention.