CCA Bulletin 28/10 - The Economic Update: what does it mean for the cultural sector?

Just the facts

On October 12, federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty delivered his Economic and Fiscal Update. The speech provided updated information on Canada’s economic and fiscal context and did not contain any spending announcements, as has sometimes been the case in past years.

On the economic side, so far, Canada is performing quite strongly in relation to its G7 counterparts, notably the United States. On the fiscal side, things are less rosy, particularly in the short-term. This year’s deficit will be the largest ever at the updated level of $55.6 billion, up $1.8 billion from the March estimate (most of the increase is due to accounting changes that shift expenditures for transitional assistance payments to the provinces from the 2010/2011 fiscal year to 2009/2010).(more)