Government spending on culture in Canada in 2023-24

How much of the $1 trillion in government spending goes to culture?

As Statistics Canada noted in late November, government spending in Canada by all levels of government was just above $1 trillion in 2023-24 (more specifically, $1.1 trillion or $1,083.8 billion). This amount includes spending by “all levels of government including the federal, provincial, territorial, local and other government entities combined”, what Statistics Canada calls “Canadian General Government (CGG)”. (Quotes from Statistics Canada’s brief overview.)

This article examines how much of this spending went to culture, with the focus on a few key facts about government spending on culture in Canada in 2023. In subsequent posts, I’ll dig into the data by province and examine trends over time in government spending on culture.

But first, I need to explain what is and isn’t available in the dataset, including the definition of spending on “culture”.

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What does the dataset contain?

My initial caution is that the data are not very granular. For example, we cannot break down the two key cultural categories (into, say, spending on “the arts”). Nor can we separate spending by provincial and local governments (and post-secondary institutions), which are all included in the same broad grouping within each province.

For each element of government spending, the data include direct government support, not tax credits or other indirect instruments.

Cultural elements

In the dataset (delightfully called “Canadian Classification of Functions of Government (CCOFOG) by consolidated government component”), there are two categories that fall squarely within a typical statistical definition of culture:

1. Culture, excluding broadcasting and publishing (what Statistics Canada calls “cultural services”). This covers much of what we would usually consider to be funding for the arts, culture, and heritage. Definition: “This group covers provision of cultural services; administration of cultural affairs; supervision and regulation of cultural facilities; operation or support of facilities for cultural pursuits (libraries, museums, art galleries, theatres, exhibition halls, monuments, historic houses and sites, zoological and botanical gardens, aquaria, arboreta, etc.); production, operation, or support of cultural events (concerts, stage and film productions, art shows, etc.); and grants, loans, or subsidies to support individual artists, writers, designers, composers, and others working in the arts or to organizations engaged in promoting cultural activities.”

2. Broadcasting and publishing services. Definition: “This group covers administration of broadcasting and publishing affairs; supervision and regulation of broadcasting and publishing services; operation or support of broadcasting and publishing services; grants, loans, or subsidies to support the construction or acquisition of facilities for television or radio broadcasting; the construction or acquisition of plant, equipment, or materials for newspaper, magazine, or book publishing; the production of material for, and its presentation by, broadcasting; the gathering of news or other information; and the distribution of published works.”

Data are available for these culture-specific categories, which are also rolled up into a broader category for spending on “recreation, culture, and religion”.

In this article, I will sometimes lead with the statistics on broadcasting and publishing, followed by “all other aspects of culture”, by which I mean #1 above.

There might be some additional culture-specific spending that is included in a combined category for “recreation, culture, and religion, not elsewhere classified”. But that is likely a very small amount of spending, because that overall category is quite small.

I want to reiterate that breakdowns within the culture-specific categories are not provided. As such, it is not possible to pinpoint, for example, the part of the definition that refers to “grants, loans, or subsidies to support individual artists, writers, designers, composers, and others working in the arts” or to “organizations engaged in promoting cultural activities”.

Levels of government

The dataset contains just two categories for government spending. Oddly, federal government spending is not published separately but appears to be the difference between the two main categories:

1. All levels of government (which the dataset calls “Consolidated Canadian general government”). “Includes federal government, provincial and territorial governments, health and social service institutions, universities and colleges, municipalities and other local public administrations, and school boards. Does not include the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP).” This category is only available for Canada as a whole (i.e., not broken down by province or territory).

2. Provincial, territorial, and local governments, plus educational institutions (“Consolidated provincial-territorial and local governments”, or “PTLG”). “Includes provincial and territorial governments, health and social service institutions, universities and colleges, municipalities and other local public administrations, and school boards.”

Regarding federal government spending: The dataset indicates that details of federal government spending are provided in a separate dataset. However, that dataset is based on a different measurement (“non-consolidated” instead of “consolidated”). Consolidated statistics exclude transactions between governments (to avoid double counting of a single expense, in cases where there is a transfer between governments). Because of this difference, the two datasets are not entirely comparable.

It appears that the most appropriate and comparable estimate of federal spending comes from the difference between spending by all levels of government and spending by provincial, territorial, and local governments. This would exclude transfers between governments (and therefore avoid some double counting).

I’ve investigated the two potential estimates of federal spending (consolidated and non-consolidated) and am not surprised to find that the non-consolidated estimates are larger than my calculations from the consolidated dataset. However, because the difference is not huge (around 4%), I am going to stick with my calculations from the consolidated dataset (i.e., the smaller estimate, excluding transfers between governments).

Yearly data cutoffs

The federal government and many provincial governments operate on a fiscal year that ends in March. In those cases, spending would be allocated to the calendar year containing nine months of the fiscal year, not the year in which the fiscal year ended. In other words, spending in fiscal 2023/24 would be published as spending in 2023. So the data released in late November for 2023 cover the most recently completed federal and provincial fiscal years (ending March 31, 2024).

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Government spending on culture: 1.2% of all government spending

In 2023, Canadian governments at all levels spent $13 billion on culture, including $4.7 billion on broadcasting and publishing and $8.3 billion on all other aspects of culture.

The $13 billion spent on culture represents 1.2% of total government spending. Just for fun, I’ll drop this into a pie graph.

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Comparisons to other sectors

The $13 billion spent on culture is somewhat larger than the $10.5 billion that governments at all levels spent on recreation and religion in 2023. However, spending on culture is far surpassed by many other spending areas, as shown in the following graph.

For example, government spending on “economic affairs” was $109 billion in 2023, more than eight times larger than spending on culture. This category includes spending on items like agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting; transport; energy; mining, manufacturing, and construction; communication; citizenship and immigration; and others.

Within the category of economic affairs, government spending on agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting ($16 billion) is 23% larger than spending on culture. Government spending on transport ($37 billion) is almost three times higher than spending on culture.

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Spending on culture by level of government

This section separates spending on culture by the federal government and all other levels of government, including educational institutions. These are the only two categories available in the dataset. No separation is possible within all other levels of government (i.e., between provincial governments, local governments, and educational institutions).

For context, I should note that, collectively, the provinces, territories, municipalities, and educational institutions account for nearly two-thirds of overall government spending (65%), with the federal government accounting for the other 35%.

Here’s the breakdown of government spending on culture in 2023 (as highlighted in the following graph):

• Collectively, provinces, territories, municipalities, and educational institutions spent $7.6 billion, representing 59% of all government spending on culture.

• The federal government spent $5.4 billion, or 41% of all government spending on culture.