A Plan To Support Canadian Artists And Cultural Workers

TORONTO – At a gathering with Canadian artists, New Democrat Leadership candidate Paul Dewar committed to removing federal income taxes from the first $15,000 of income earned from artistic activity - a policy already implemented successfully by Quebec.
“Arts and culture define who we are, express our diversity, build bridges between cultural and geographic divides and also drive economic growth” said Dewar. “A strong cultural policy is a key component of my agenda for building a stronger and more caring Canada.”
Dewar outlined the following concrete steps to support artists:

1. Income tax averaging to mitigate the fluctuations in income for artists and cultural workers
2. Extending federal income support such as EI and CPP to self-employed, freelance, and part-time workers
3. Removing federal income tax on the first $15,000 of income earned from copyright and residual payments by professional artists

Dewar also reaffirmed New Democrats' long-standing commitment to provide sustained and increased funding to the Canada Council, CBC, Radio-Canada, and the Canadian Media Fund, as well as creating a new international arts touring fund to replace Trade Routes and PromArt which were cancelled by the Harper government.
“It’s time we elected a prime minister who believes in the arts and supporting artists and cultural workers” said Canadian actor Joe Dinicol. “I’m proud to support Paul’s leadership campaign and I look forward to the chance to cast my mark to elect him as our next prime minister.”
The Conference Board of Canada placed the real value-added output of cultural industries at $46 billion in 2007. They also found that the economic footprint of the cultural sector was approximately $84.6 billion that same year. That is 7.4% of Canada’s total GDP, and 1.1 million jobs.
"The current government does not understand the importance of arts and culture to Canadians" concluded Dewar. “My plan will give artists and cultural workers the support and respect they deserve”.