Federal Government Releases 2022 Budget

Last week the federal government unveiled their 2022 Budget, entitled A Plan to Grow Our Economy and Make Life More Affordable The 280-page document is broken down into 9 Chapters, with a specific focus on economic growth, housing and Canada’s leadership in the world.

For the arts and culture sector, the government revisited investments over the past two years, including:

the $500 million over two years from Budget 2021 to support the re-opening and recovery of the arts, culture, heritage and sports sectors;
$250 million announced in 2021 to be delivered in 2022-2023 to support performing arts; and
the $62.3 million announced in the 2021 Economic and Fiscal Update to create the temporary program aimed at supporting workers in the arts sector, now known as the Canada Performing Arts Workers Resilience Fund (CPAWRF).

In terms of new or increased investment for the sector, the Budget proposes:

to provide an additional $50 million in 2022-2023 to the Department of Canadian Heritage, the Canada Council for the Arts and Telefilm Canada to help compensate arts, culture and heritage organizations for revenue losses due to public health restrictions and capacity limits. This commitment aligns with the election promise and mandate letter commitment to develop an Arts and Culture Recovery Program that it is likely to come in the form of a retroactive ticket-matching subsidy recovery program. There will be more details on the eligibility and structure of this program to come.
Budget 2022 proposes to provide $22.5 million over five years starting in 2022-23, and $5 million annually, to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Arts Training Fund (CATF) to address historic inequities for Indigenous and racialized training organizations. This is new, additional funding and will be disbursed as $4.5 million/year for the first five years, and then $5 million/year ongoing.
The government has also proposed to provide $12.1 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to the National Arts Centre to support the creation, co-production, promotion, and touring of productions with Canadian commercial and not-for-profit performing arts companies.

Additionally, Budget 2022 proposes to introduce amendments to the Copyright Act to extend the general term of copyright protection from 50 to 70 years under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) and has stated that they will ensure the Copyright Act protects creators and copyright holders. We expect that Copyright Reform will be undertaken later this year.

Please register for Global Public Affairs’ Cultural Industries Post-Budget Webinar on April 14.

The following is a list of all other budget items that relate to the Cultural sector.

Ensuring Fair Compensation for News Media in the Digital News Ecosystem

Budget 2022 proposes to provide $8.5 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to establish a new legislative and regulatory regime to require digital platforms that generate revenues from the publication of news content to share a portion of their revenues with Canadian news outlets.

Support for Canada’s Tourism Sector

To continue supporting Canada’s tourism sector, the Minister of Tourism will work with the tourism industry, provincial and territorial counterparts, and Indigenous tourism operators to develop a new post-pandemic Federal Tourism Growth Strategy, which will plot a course for growth, investment, and stability.
Budget 2022 proposes to provide $20 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, in support of a new Indigenous Tourism Fund to help the Indigenous tourism industry recover from the pandemic and position itself for long-term, sustainable growth.
Budget 2022 also proposes to provide $4.8 million over two years, starting in 2022-23, to the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada to support its operations, which continue to help the Indigenous tourism industry rebuild and recover from the pandemic.
These measures build on other ongoing supports for the sector, including $1 billion in support provided through Budget 2021 programs such as the Tourism Relief Fund and the Major Festivals and Events Support Initiative. An estimated $750 million of these funds are expected to be used to support the sector in 2022-23. Destination Canada is also expected to spend more than $48 million for marketing campaigns in the United States to draw in more visitors and increase economic activity.

Stronger Partnerships in the Charitable Sector

Following consultations with the charitable sector in 2021, Budget 2022 proposes to introduce a new graduated disbursement quota rate for charities. For investment assets exceeding $1 million, the rate of the disbursement quota will be increased from 3.5 per cent to 5 per cent. These changes will be effective in respect of a charity’s fiscal period beginning on or after January 1, 2023, and will be reviewed after five years.
To ensure sufficient flexibility for charities to carry out their work, Budget 2022 proposes to amend the Income Tax Act to allow a charity to provide its resources to organizations that are not qualified donees, provided that the charity meets certain requirements designed to ensure accountability. This is intended to implement the spirit of Bill S-216, the Effective and Accountable Charities Act, which is currently being considered by Parliament.

Supporting Local and Diverse Journalism

To support diverse and local stories in news media, Budget 2022 proposes to provide $15 million in 2023-24 to Canadian Heritage as follows:

$10 million in 2023-24 for the Local Journalism Initiative to continue to support the production of local journalism for underserved communities across Canada.
$5 million in 2023-24 to launch a new Changing Narratives Fund to break down systemic barriers in the media and cultural sectors and help racialized and religious minority journalists, creators, and organizations have their experiences and perspectives better represented.
Budget 2022 also proposes to provide $40 million over three years, starting in 2022-23, to Canadian Heritage for the Canada Periodical Fund to support the availability of journalistic content and to help these publications adapt to the continually evolving technology and media consumption habits of Canadians.

Towards a Better Employment Insurance System

In Budget 2022, the government proposes to amend the Employment Insurance Act to extend the rules of a temporary measure that provides 5 additional weeks to seasonal workers in targeted regions, until October 2023.
The Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion is consulting with Canadians on what needs to be done to build an Employment Insurance system that better meets the current and future needs of workers and employees.

Fighting Systemic Racism, Discrimination, and Hate

Budget 2022 proposes to provide $85 million over four years, starting in 2022-23, to the Department of Canadian Heritage to support the work underway to launch a new Anti-Racism Strategy and National Action Plan on Combatting Hate.

The GPA Cultural Industries Team