Yes.
Evidence of meeting #117 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ontario.
Evidence of meeting #117 for Finance in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was ontario.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
Let's say you had tax only on the land and, as you pointed out, the value of the land.... My question is this: Is the municipality going to make up that revenue somewhere?
9:50 a.m.
As an Individual
Yes. What they found in Pittsburgh was that they maintained the revenue and acquired the needed revenue. Many people actually had a reduced tax. The heavy landowners who weren't using the land were taxed more.
In The Wall Street Journal video I referred to, they said there were thousands of unused lots in the city of New York, and there was no incentive for those people to develop those lots. They were just waiting for those lands to appreciate. That tax would be much higher on those unused lots. It would make it a poor investment, and they would sell those to someone who would develop them.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
Yvan Baker Liberal Etobicoke Centre, ON
I only have five seconds. This is a yes or no.
What I hear you saying is that the municipality would ensure that the revenue pool is the same as it is in the current circumstances. They would assess a land tax rate that would allow them to achieve that same pool.
9:50 a.m.
Liberal
9:50 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to welcome all the witnesses. They are a thought-provoking group of representatives.
My questions will be for the music industry representatives, hence Ms. Paré and possibly Mr. Cash and Mr. Claus.
Thanks to all three of you for being here. Your presentation painted a rather discouraging picture of the current state of the industry. Among other things, you mentioned the problems faced by independent producers and artists in competing with big American stars because of the ready availability of music on online platforms. I know that part of your revenue also comes from traditional radio broadcasting rights. But then many traditional radio stations are shutting down.
How has this been affecting your industry?
9:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo
I can speak for Musicaction, the francophone component that receives funding.
Musicaction receives contributions from two sources. Firstly, it receives public funds through the Canada Music Fund. That's why we are here today. It also receives private funding. Up until now, these contributions are essentially based on radio revenue and what is called tangible benefits. This means that when there is a transaction between two broadcasting groups, Musicaction receives a grant for a seven-year period.
In both instances, revenue is declining. Broadcasting revenue has been experiencing downward pressure for several years now. When the CRTC has completed its consultation process, platforms should be paying out the contributions received. However, we don't yet know what the level will be, when it will happen, or what conditions might be attached. At the very least, it would restore a degree of equity between radio stations and the platforms in terms of music distribution. It would therefore contribute to the development of Canadian content.
It's really the private funding side that is declining at the moment. This once again demonstrates why Canadian Heritage should increase the funding allocated to the Canada Music Fund.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Thank you. It's clearly important to take action.
As you said, there were programs of this kind before the pandemic. There is a commitment by the Liberal Party, and you are asking that it be adjusted for inflation.
It's clear that inflation has been affecting everyone. How, specifically, is it affecting your industry?
9:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo
The industry was already operating on very slim margins. You could call it a scissor effect. Inflation affects household discretionary budgets for spending on culture, meaning their capacity to pay for tickets to live shows or to listen to music.
That also affects production costs for tours, wages, live shows and sound recordings. Margins that were already very tight are now even more so. Without these margins, businesses are having even more trouble reinvesting in projects for emerging artists or in niche market projects because there is no room for risk-taking.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
It means that you suffer from a double hit because of the scissor effect. Households are affected by inflation and go out less often, and the shows are more expensive to produce. It's tough.
There is basically own-source revenue, and leverage with government assistance. The situation is difficult in view of what's happening in the world of media. You have to carve out a place for yourself online while awaiting the outcome of the CRTC's work.
You also mentioned labour shortages. Things were already difficult before the pandemic, and after the pandemic hit, you told us that you were going to lose your skilled workers. The situation right now is dire.
9:55 a.m.
Executive Director, Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo
That's definitely the case, at two levels. On the one hand it affects touring and the technicians, but there's also what happens between companies.
When we refer to specific skills, we are talking about needs. The current context, with its many different platforms, requires companies to spend even more on marketing. You need people who know about marketing in the music business and who have the right social media, data analysis and business intelligence skills.
The big multinationals have access to these skills in spades, but others have trouble acquiring them. These resources are readily transferable to other sectors, and we lost a lot of them during the pandemic. Some businesses don't have the means to offer attractive salaries that can compete with other sectors in the Canadian economy.
It amounts to a major skills drain.
9:55 a.m.
Bloc
Gabriel Ste-Marie Bloc Joliette, QC
Okay. Thank you.
Can you briefly explain to us what the breakdown of the $60 million would be? To which sector of the industry would the money go?
10 a.m.
Executive Director, Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo
Certainly.
Last summer, we submitted a brief in connection with the pre-budget consultations. As usual, the breakdown was 40% for Musicaction and 60% for FACTOR.
The aggregate data refers to funding of $30 million for the production and marketing of sound recordings. We were just talking about marketing.
It involves $12 million in financial support for the production and marketing of live shows, $12 million for the retention and development of skilled workers, and $6 million for exports, for a total of $60 million.
10 a.m.
Liberal
November 14th, 2023 / 10 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Hearing these testimonies today kind of gives me flashbacks to my time as a recovering city councillor.
I'll share with you that it may have been seven or eight years ago when MP Dzerowicz and I were on a delegation to the UN's Habitat III. They were introducing concepts of land value capture and land value tax as a way to combat the regressive nature in which property tax tends to have fluctuations and unpredictability with operating budgets in municipalities.
I'm brought back to that moment and listening with interest to your testimony, sir, around the land value tax. I always get a kick out of hearing Adam Smith quoted outside of his typical contexts, but I do believe that general fairness applies across all economic principles when it's scientifically applied.
I want to go back to that process.
In your opinion, how do you think a land value tax would help with the predictability, fairness and general distribution of cost across municipalities? Reflecting, to the best of your ability, sir, without expecting to be an expert on the matter, the way in which particularly commercial property taxes have been shifted in their way to residential property taxes, how do you feel this would alleviate some of those discrepancies?
10 a.m.
As an Individual
Let me first say that this is a partnership with inclusionary zoning.
Professor Condon pointed out that Vancouver had a wonderful record of building and creating more density and still had a huge problem with price. Therefore, inclusionary zoning is a part of that component.
10 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
If you would please pause for one second, I think this is an important distinction.
In your opinion, does CMHC's use of the average market cost under affordability meet the actual market reality of people's ability to pay, or would you agree that it's quite disconnected from the average worker's ability to pay?
10 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Do you have another model that would help, for instance, people's ability to pay as being affordable? What would be your consideration for benchmarking affordability in communities?
10 a.m.
As an Individual
Professor Condon refers to the median income, and even 80% of the median income, in terms of inclusionary zoning, as a standard.
10 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Is it correct that it would be roughly 30% of somebody's income on rental that would be considered affordable?
10 a.m.
NDP
Matthew Green NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Would you also agree with the assertion that affordability in terms of the purchase price of homes used to be something like three times the income, and now it's something like 10 times the income? Would you agree that is not an affordable market solution to the housing issue?
