Artists who are out on the streets once again because of COVID lockdowns are lobbying furiously for a return to a full Canadian Emergency Response Benefit for their sector.

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on January 6, 2022.

OTTAWA—Musical blockbuster Come From Away has already been seen by a million Canadians.

But if you missed the Canadian performance in Toronto, you won’t be able to see it in this country again.

The story of how the people of Newfoundland opened their hearts to passengers stranded by the downing of the World Trade Centre is reverberating around the world.

It is the most successful Canadian musical ever produced and has prompted a domestic theatre renaissance that has already spawned more live theatre offerings for the globe.

The numbers published by David Mirvish when he announced the shuttering over the Christmas week were indeed impressive.

The press release cited box office sales of $115-million, including over $15-million in HST.

Mirvish estimated the economic impact on the Toronto economy at $920-million.

Mirvish pointed a finger directly at government, “in other parts of the world, the government has stepped up to support the commercial theatre sector by offering a financial safety net for the sector to reopen and play during the pandemic, thus protecting the tens of thousands of good jobs the sector creates. That is the case in the U.S., the U.K., and Australia—where productions of Come From Away continue.”

But in Canada there is no such government support.

Mirvish’s holiday announcement provoked shock waves in Canada’s artistic community.

New Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez has been working feverishly to find a solution to the dilemma.

And artists who are out on the streets once again because of COVID lockdowns are lobbying furiously for a return to a full Canadian Emergency Response Benefit for their sector.

With all the theatres shuttered, it is impossible for the thousands of people who depend on live performance for their livelihoods to even feed their families.

Canada Council for the Arts CEO Simon Brault has emerged as a champion for those artists.

He has been working with unions representing the arts community trying to figure out the best solutions for support in these trying times.

But the question begs. If the city of Toronto garners almost a billion dollars in economic benefits from live performances, why are the arts treated like an afterthought in Canada’s COVID business support model?

For some reason, if you are manufacturing autos or pumping oil, your jobs are worth the full attention of governments.

If you are artists, bringing joy, perspective and global reach to the Canadian story, you are left picking up the scraps.

And it was always thus.

For some bizarre reason, commercial success in cultural industries has generally disqualified creators from government support.

There are government incentives and subsidies for book publishers, media content creators and community not-for-profit operations. But live commercial productions are generally left to their own devices as they are profit-making enterprises. However, governments help lots of industries in the name of economic development. Why exclude the cultural industries?

On the Hill, there is much discussion about how to turn this around. Not much is happening at Queens’s Park either even though the provincial capital is by far the largest beneficiary of commercial entertainment investment.

Some are discussing possible tax credits, which kickstarted a robust growth in Canadian film opportunities back in the nineties.

The tax credit introduced then has been replicated around the world, and it has been one of the best models for media content creation on the globe.

That credit was introduced by the Department of Finance, in tandem with Heritage, which begs the question. Where is Toronto-based Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland in this picture?

The cut to the CERB may have made some debt hawks on Bay Street happy. But it has devastated the creative sector, who continue to lobby for direct support for unemployed artists locked out of their places of employment by pandemic fiats.

Where, too, is the Department of Industry in this quest for solutions?

Francois-Philippe Champagne’s ministerial title is minister of innovation, science and industry. Surely the world of entertainment is built on innovation.

Before Come From Away, there was no real hope of developing a domestic theatre industry equivalent to London’s west end or Broadway.

But this magical story got Canada’s foot in the door for the creation of a whole new innovative industry, live theatre that actually makes money and entertains.

The brains behind innovation in Canada need to get together and find a solution to this gaping hole in public policy. All hands need to be on deck, including the prime minister’s office.

Come From Away should not have Gone Away.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.

An equally important subject for parliamentary scrutiny is the culture of secrecy rampant at the Crown corporation setting Canadian safety and health standards

By Sheila Copps
First published in The Hill Times on February 8, 2016.

OTTAWA—Most Canadians have never heard of the Commercial Credit Corporation.

It wasn’t until the CBC revealed an astonishing pattern of excessive part-time per diems that attention was focused into some dark corners of Crown corporations.

The issue of inflated per diems is certainly worth public review. Even more important is the absence of oversight, parading as arm’s length management in many Crown corporations.

In my job as Canadian Heritage minister, I was responsible for more than half the Crown corporations of government. Most of them were involved in the cultural sector, including the CBC and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. Crown corporations aggressively promoted their “arms length relationship” with government.

They enjoyed most of the freedoms of a private sector company, with no oversight from shareholders and little review by governments.

Politicians are generally afraid to dig too deeply into Crown corporations because they are busy with their own ministry responsibilities.

And the Crown corporations also work hard to distance themselves from government surveillance.

Case in point, the Jean Chrétien Liberal government had just announced a substantial increase in the Canada Council for the Arts budget.

I followed up the increase with a call to the council, looking for a meeting with the board.

A return call came quickly and it was vehemently suggested that a board meeting with the minister would be highly inappropriate, as this could be viewed as political interference in the artists’ granting system.

I explained that I had no intention of interfering with the council’s support choices but wanted to work with them on shaping broad objectives. These included reaching new audiences, supporting aboriginal artists and encouraging cultural business development.

When I went to Cabinet to seek additional funding, I built the rationale for new monies on updating responsibilities for the Canada Council, so I felt a responsibility to deliver.

I then discovered the arm’s length relationship was so distorted that Heritage employees involved in arts funding were not allowed to meet formally with their counterparts at the Canada Council, for fear the council might be influenced by the department.

Instead, the parties would meet surreptitiously in coffee shops, to discuss duplication and avoid double bureaucracy.

During my watch, we worked to change the nature of the arm’s length relationship.

I initiated quarterly meetings for all crown corporations under the authority of my department. Most Crown agencies had never actually even met before, and these quarterly meetings encouraged cross-pollination on projects, ideas and exchanges. The meetings ended up maximizing the cultural bang for our buck without compromising artistic freedom.

Most Crown corporations operate in a vacuum, with little real oversight.

The Standards Council of Canada is just such an organization.

It’s website says it is answerable to the minister of industry and manages the process of standardization in Canada. SCC-accredited organizations are responsible for the development, publication and maintenance of national standards. Regarding the development of voluntary international standards; SCC is involved with the International Standardization Organization (ISO) as well as with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC).

Similarly, Canada’s involvement with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) falls under the responsibility of Industry Canada. It is also important to note that SCC is involved with the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). This commission is managed by an interdepartmental committee consisting of senior officials from Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Pest Management Regulatory Agency, Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. These are enormous health and safety responsibilities for an organization that operates with minimal parliamentary scrutiny.

Last year, the SCC sought and received exemption from a number of reporting requirements that have been standard practice for all crown corporations. A business client of mine applied under freedom of information laws for all documents involved in that decision.

Last week, he received a package of material including three heavily redacted documents. One was five pages from the vice-president of accreditation at the council. With the exception of the cover page, all material was completely blacked out.

The other documents included more than 30 pages of totally redacted material. Only the cover pages were visible.

The SCC is blatantly ignoring transparency in Canadian standard setting. What else could justify hiding dozens of pages of material from public?

The creaming of Crown corporations for outrageous part-time per diems is certainly worthy of public attention.

An equally important subject for parliamentary scrutiny is the culture of secrecy rampant at the Crown corporation setting Canadian safety and health standards.

Sheila Copps is a former Jean Chrétien-era cabinet minister and a former deputy prime minister. Follow her on Twitter at @Sheila_Copps.