Government expenditures on culture in 2007/2008

November 20, 201020 November 2010

Issue

Government and consumer spending on culture

Article Link

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/87f0001x/87f0001x2010001-eng.htm

Statistics Canada recently released a brief overview and data regarding government spending on culture in 2007-08. The data includes direct government support for culture, not tax credits or other indirect instruments. Hill Strategies has analyzed this data for this issue of the Arts Research Monitor.

In 2007-08, governments spent $8.7 billion on culture, excluding transfers between different levels of government. This represents a 9% increase from 2003-04 (after adjusting for inflation). Between 2003-04 and 2007-08, provincial and municipal expenditures on culture increased substantially (19% and 17%, respectively). On the other hand, federal cultural spending decreased by 3%.

In 2007-08, federal government spending on culture was $3.7 billion (41% of spending by all levels of government), while the provinces and territories spent $2.8 billion (31%) and municipalities $2.6 billion (28%). (The federal, provincial and municipal breakdowns include $0.4 billion in transfers between governments and therefore do not equal the $8.7 billion total, which is net of transfers.)

Because of data limitations, “the arts” include only performing arts, visual arts and crafts (excluding art galleries), and arts education. Based on this definition, government support for the arts was $755 million in 2007-08, or 8% of total government spending on culture. Support for the arts was highest at the provincial and territorial level ($420 million, or 15% of provincial and territorial governments’ spending on culture), followed by the federal level ($287 million, or 8% of federal government spending on culture). At the municipal level, spending on the arts is not reliably stated in the data. (While large municipal spending areas like libraries are broken out in the dataset, most other municipal funding is grouped into the “Multidisciplinary and other activities” category.)

The $3.7 billion in federal government spending on culture in 2007-08 was dominated by the broadcasting sector ($1.7 billion, or 46% of federal spending) and heritage organizations, including museums, art galleries, public archives, nature parks and historic sites ($1.0 billion, or 27% of federal spending). The largest portions of the $2.8 billion in provincial spending in 2007-08 went to libraries ($972 million) and heritage organizations ($848 million). Sixty-eight percent of total municipal support in 2007 ($1.8 billion of the $2.6 billion total) went to libraries.

On a per-capita basis, spending on culture by all levels of government was $279 per Canadian in 2007-08. From highest to lowest, per-capita spending by all levels of government was as follows in each province:

• Quebec ($361 per capita);
• Prince Edward Island ($304 per capita);
• Saskatchewan ($281 per capita);
• Manitoba ($266 per capita);
• Ontario ($247 per capita);
• Nova Scotia ($241 per capita);
• Newfoundland and Labrador ($240 per capita);
• Alberta ($231 per capita);
• New Brunswick ($214 per capita); and
• British Columbia ($197 per capita).

Federal spending on culture averaged $113 per Canadian in 2007-08. As shown below, two provinces were above this average, while the other eight were below $113 per person in federal spending on culture:

• Quebec ($167 per capita);
• Prince Edward Island ($158 per capita);
• Nova Scotia ($109 per capita);
• Ontario ($106 per capita);
• Newfoundland and Labrador ($88 per capita);
• New Brunswick ($74 per capita);
• Manitoba ($68 per capita);
• Alberta ($56 per capita);
• Saskatchewan ($50 per capita); and
• British Columbia ($48 per capita).

Provincial spending on culture averaged $86 per Canadian in 2007-08. Only British Columbia and Ontario were below this level. Per-capita provincial spending on culture was as follows in each province:

• Manitoba ($144 per capita);
• Saskatchewan ($139 per capita);
• Newfoundland and Labrador ($124 per capita);
• Quebec ($118 per capita);
• Prince Edward Island ($117 per capita);
• Alberta ($93 per capita);
• Nova Scotia ($88 per capita);
• New Brunswick ($87 per capita);
• British Columbia ($76 per capita); and
• Ontario ($55 per capita).

Municipal spending on culture varied widely between the provinces and averaged $79 per Canadian in 2007. Per-capita municipal spending on culture was as follows in each province:

• Saskatchewan ($92 per capita);
• British Columbia ($89 per capita);
• Ontario ($86 per capita);
• Alberta ($82 per capita);
• Quebec ($77 per capita);
• Manitoba ($54 per capita);
• Nova Scotia ($44 per capita);
• New Brunswick ($37 per capita);
• Prince Edward Island ($30 per capita); and
• Newfoundland and Labrador ($28 per capita).

Per-capita spending levels are higher in the three territories than in any province by every measure except municipal spending. Because of their small populations, the territories were excluded from the above analysis. Key data for the territories follows:

• In the Yukon, total government spending on culture was $1,136 per person in 2007-08, which included $600 in federal spending, $524 in territorial spending, and $13 in municipal spending.
• In the Northwest Territories, total government spending on culture was $1,061 per capita in 2007-08, including $769 in federal spending, $235 in territorial spending, and $57 in municipal spending.
• In Nunavut, total government spending on culture was $576 per person in 2007-08, which included $391 in federal spending, $172 in territorial spending, and $13 in municipal spending.