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New economic data on culture, arts, heritage and sport in Canada available

As Canadians mark the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference, federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) ministers responsible for culture and heritage met in Charlottetown to discuss the economic benefits and current state of the cultural landscape and heritage in Canada. The meeting was co-chaired by the Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, and the Honourable Robert Henderson, Minister of Tourism and Culture for Prince Edward Island. At today’s meeting, new economic data for 2010 were presented that indicate the arts, culture and heritage contribute close to $50 billion to the Canadian economy and represent almost 647,000 jobs throughout the country. The meeting took place the day after the first-ever joint meeting with ministers responsible for tourism.

The economic data comes from the Culture Satellite Account (CSA), a precise and reliable source using the most rigorous and transparent methodology to date to measure the economic importance and activity of arts, culture and heritage in Canada. The CSA stems from a productive partnership between Statistics Canada, Canadian Heritage, all of the provinces and territories, numerous municipalities and several non-governmental organizations. New statistics will be provided every year on a range of indicators, such as gross domestic product (GDP) and jobs.

Several other priorities and collaborative projects were discussed at the meeting, at which the ministers underscored the importance of encouraging and promoting the arts, culture and heritage.

• The ministers’ discussions focused on working together to grow the creative economy; supporting heritage conservation through sustainability, revitalization and re-use of heritage buildings; and TV channel unbundling.

• All meeting participants re-affirmed their interest in the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games, as they would give the provinces and territories a chance to highlight and celebrate their culture and creativity.

• The joint session with FPT ministers responsible for tourism, which was held on September 9, focused on the Road to 2017 and the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of Confederation, which present extensive cultural and economic opportunities.

• The Ministers committed to sharing best practices on facilitating youth travel and to sharing their plans to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Confederation to ensure collaboration across Canada.

• At the end of the meeting of ministers responsible for culture and heritage, the New Brunswick delegation officially invited the federal, provincial and territorial ministers to their province in 2015 to continue discussions on cultural and heritage matters.

Quotes

“The Culture Satellite Account helps us measure the overall impact of our investment in culturally significant events like the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference and Canada’s 150th anniversary in 2017. It strikingly illustrates the importance of the social impact of arts, culture and heritage that helps shape our identity.”

— The Honourable Robert Henderson, Minister of Tourism and Culture, Prince Edward Island

“On the road to 2017, the 150th anniversary of Confederation, we will continue to invest in the arts, culture and heritage in order to enrich the lives of Canadians and support economic growth. We will continue to cooperate on projects of mutual interest for the benefit of all Canadians.”

— The Honourable Shelly Glover, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages

Culture Satellite Account Quick Facts

• The arts, heritage and cultural industries, which account for 3.1 percent of Canada’s total GDP, is larger than the accommodation and food services industry and twice as big as the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting industries.

• Total cultural GDP includes heritage and libraries ($781 million), live performance ($1.9 billion), visual and applied arts ($10.2 billion), written and published works ($10 billion), audio-visual and interactive media ($14.8 billion), sound recording ($568 million), and education, support and multi-domain ($9.6 billion).

• Development of the CSA continues in order to broaden its scope. The first publicly available figures at the provincial and territorial level are expected in 2015, followed by work to determine the feasibility of reporting at other levels.

• Sport also contributes close to $4.5 billion to the Canadian economy and represents more than 93,500 jobs throughout the country.