Tonight’s performance of John Rutherfold and the Legislative Assembly wasn’t just a great blues performance (more on that later); it got me to thinking about the Alberta provincinal budget that had just been released a few hours earlier, and what sort of impact it would have on the music community in Calgary.
I’ve attached a limited breakdown of the budget, as informed by research done by Global, with a few of my own thoughts on how this might affect artists, producers, venues and fans in our great city.
How does the latest AB Budget affect you as a Calgary musician? Have your say #yycmusicbudget
— Ear♭en♩er YYC (@YYCMusic) March 8, 2013
I am also inviting you to have your say, by Twitter. What aspects of the budget concern you, as a musician or fan of the arts here in town? I’ll post a selection of the best answers, using the hashtag #yycmusicbudget.
In the area of Healthcare, the new budget has a pretty big focus, as nearly half of the money described will be earmarked in one way or another for health care spending. Over $17B will go towards keeping Albertans healthy, increasing spending by three percent over last year, which sounds great – unless you work in the sector. No money is scheduled for salary increases, but doctors, nurses and other health care providers can at least take a little comfort in knowing that they’re not alone. No one gets a raise by this year’s budget, and if you factor in the annual increases of the cost of living, that’s going to be a problem. While the number of musicians who work in this sector isn’t known, about 100% of Calgary musicians will see a doctor at least once in their lives, so I guess it’s going to make an impact regardless. There is some good news, though, as the province will be working to lower the cost of generic drugs, so the music makers in town who don’t have the luxury of a day-job supplied health care plan will find it a little easier on the pocketbook for some prescriptions. As well, some diabetes sufferers will now be eligible for full coverage on the cost of insulin pumps.
An area of greater concern for some younger musicians will be the effects on Education in this province. Nearly have a billion will be used to build fifty new primary and secondary schools, but there will be no new money to fill those buildings with teachers. That will effect not only those who dabble in music on the side of their teaching careers, but those wonderful music instructors who will be spread a little thinner throughout the system, taking on larger class sizes. For those who are themselves still students, the announcements about post-secondary funding aren’t exactly encouraging. Schools will get $147M less this year to work with, and while the province says they have no plans to increase tuition, you have to wonder about the simultaneous increase to the amount of money students can now get from student loans. If it wasn’t hard enough already to be a musician, try doing it with 21 per cent more student debt piling up behind you. And if you suppliment your gigs with a bit of work through the STEP program, you’re out of luck – the province has pulled the plug on the Student Temporary Employment Program. The province saves about eight mill with that cut.
Bands who take to the roads on a regular basis have a bit of good news, and a bit of bad news. If you travel between Hardisty and Fort McMurray for gigs, you’ll be sad to hear that Highway 881 will not be getting the Infrastructure improvements it so sorely needs. Previous promises of passing lanes and rest stops have been shelved. On the bright side, the killer stretch of pavement leading to Fort Mac, Highway 63, will be getting some much-needed renovations. Here’s hoping it will make it a safer road to drive on, in a hurry.
As for our fair city itself, the Municipal Sustainability Initiative funding for Calgary will be just over $250M, which is similar to last year. Again, no increase kind of means a decrease, does it not? The key part of the MSI portion is the removal of the end date for the agreement, which could result in smaller payments over more years.
For those who have been playing for a few decades, the new calculation rules for income might end up costing a few bucks. Previously exempt revenue streams like Canada Pension payments and worker’s comp will be rolled in to the overall total income equation, which could see Seniors who previously qualified as lower income being bumped from certain programs. Additionally, seniors who have lived in the province for less than ten years are now not eligible for benefits, which seems pretty weak – picking on low-income immigrant seniors? Could you pick a more vulnerable group?
Other key points? The elimination of the Community Spirit Program, in which the province would match any annual donations raised by a corporation but donated by an individual, which will mean fewer dollars going to some worthy causes in the province, and could affect a few music programs and venues. The Other Initiatives Program survived the cull, but with a reduced budget to help support projects that aren’t eligible for the traditional funding programs. Another hit comes as the Community Facility Enhancement Program faces a more than ten per cent slash in funding. The program helps local community groups with facility enhancement, another area that might see negative results for some of the smaller, non-commercial music venues in the city.
There are some positives in the budget as well, including a little bit more money for programs focused on helping kids with disabilities, as well as helping out low-income families when it comes to child care. The last point is perhaps more pertintant to the music community, as those who try to balance a family, job and music career won’t lose out on the help that they’re currently able to access. And of course, there were no new taxes introduced in this year’s budget, despite a few people floating the idea of introducing a provincial sales tax to help alleviate the deficit.
Again, these are just some of the broad stroke overviews of the budget, and if you want to share a concern that affects you, or talk about a particular aspect of the new budget that you feel is either helpful or hurtful to the music community in Calgary, please leave a comment below, or give it a shout on Twitter with the hashtag #yycmusicbudget. We’ll post a selection of your responses here.
But back to the music. John Rutherford is an incredible storyteller, a talented musician and is backed by a highly capable trio of musicians (Tom Knowles, Erik Allen and a keyboardist whose name I sadly missed), and if you get the chance to catch him live, don’t let anything stand in your way. He has a plethora of amazing songs with a ton of local content, including gems like Neighbour Down the Hall, Hoodoo Man (the best banjo uke blues song I’ve ever heard) and Bad Side of Town. Not to mention a stirring rendition of The Hockey Song, in honour of the passing of Canadian icon, Stompin’ Tom Connors. You can contact him directly to order a CD, or seek him out on iTunes.