Canada: Competing to Win

The Canadian Conference of the Arts (CCA) is particularly satisfied that many of our policy priorities, recommended by our membership during our March 2006 conferences and then ratified as an "action plan" by our Board, were taken up in the December 7 report.

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The Canadian Actors' Equity Association and the Canadian Conference of the Arts urged the Committee to rectify what they believe to be inequitable treatment of self-employed individuals - artists, in particular - under the EI program, since selfemployed individuals - who are classified as independent contractors - are required to pay both the employer and employee share of EI contributions but do not have access to all of the program's benefits.

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The Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Canadian Independent Record Production Association urged the Committee to rectify what they believe to be inequitable treatment of self-employed artists under the Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

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Finally, the Canadian Conference of the Arts supported the proposed Children's Fitness Tax Credit, and noted that the proposed credit would likely capture some artistic activities, such as dance and some circus arts. Nevertheless, the Canadian Conference of the Arts and Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador urged the federal government to include all artistic activities in the proposed credit.

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The Canadian Conference of the Arts, the Visual Artists Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Canadian Independent Record Production Association supported the Tomorrow Starts Today initiative under the Department of Canadian Heritage.

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...the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the Canadian IndependentRecord Production Association and RIDEAU recommended that the federal government address their concerns about an excessive administrative burden.

A number of witnesses, including the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, the Writers' Union of Canada, the Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Union des artistes, shared their concerns about the personal taxation of artists.

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The Canadian Conference of the Arts endorsed a less onerous but sufficiently rigorous accountability framework for recipients of arts and cultural funding, while the Canadian Meat Council and Maple Leaf Foods Inc. advocated a more up-to-date, flexible and straight-forward regulatory environment in the agrifood sector and clearer accountabilities among the three orders of government.