CCA Bulletin 12/11 - Off to the races! The CCA welcomes you to your 2011 general federal election!

Just the facts

On March 26, 2011, a day after a vote of no-confidence defeated the current Conservative minority government, the 2011 general federal election was called, ending weeks of rising political fervor and speculation. The Governor General dropped the writ this past Saturday sending us all to the polls on May 2nd.  In this bulletin, you will find:

• What you can expect from us in the next 35 days;

• An analysis of the state of culture related bills at the end of the 40th Parliament (with the exception of budget bills, which will be the object of a separate analysis).

CCA’s Election 2011 Plan

Over the next several weeks, the CCA will provide you with:

• An analysis of cultural spending under Canada’s 40th Parliament;
• A comparison of the federal parties’ platforms that have an impact on the arts, culture and heritage sector;
• A Doorstep Kit that will include questions you can use and adapt when engaging with your local candidates in order to gauge their approaches and that of their party with regards to arts and culture policy;
• Weekly election e-communiqués will provide you with media monitoring for arts and culture as the political parties campaign across Canada. We will also give you a weekly update of current events in the arts and culture sector in relation to the election. Look out for these each Friday throughout the campaign.
• Thinking Culture debate: On April 20th, in partnership with the University of Ottawa’s Centre for Continuing Education, Centre on Governance and School of Political Studies, the CCA is planning to host a debate among local political candidates to discuss their parties’ platforms on arts, culture and heritage. In order to involve our members across Canada, we will take questions via Twitter using hashtag #ccartsvote and on our blog. We will also post a summary the next day covering where the parties stand on the issue of culture.(more)