Orchestras Canada/Orchestres Canada

Advocacy Resources

Election 2025: Canadian Federal Political Parties’ Arts and Culture Platforms

With the help of OC’s government relations advisor Eric Dubeau, OC will be keeping a close eye on relevant arts and culture policy announcements during the campaign, especially those with potential to affect orchestras.

Over the course of the campaign – and in the days that follow – we’ll be undertaking an analysis of arts and culture commitments within each of the main party platforms, as soon as possible after each platform is published. The analysis will be shared on this webpage.

Bloc Québécois (BQ) | Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) | Green Party of Canada (GPC) | Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) | People’s Party of Canada (PPC)

Bloc Québécois (BQ) 

Notes 

  • The BQ platform was launched March 29, and is available in French only. Notes below reflect a translation undertaken in-house for Orchestras Canada. 
  • The following are several key platform elements items that may be of interest to Canadian orchestras.  

Arts and culture  

  • The BQ states that they will “do everything in our power to protect culture in international trade accords, and to preserve intellectual property of content creators in the arts and information, whose advertising dollars are literally being pirated by Web Giants.”[1] 
  • The BQ platform contains an entire section containing arts and culture commitment, including the following: 
  • “Repatriate all federal legislative and funding powers pertaining to culture to Québec and create a Québécois Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTQ).”[2] 
  • “Oppose the cancellation of the digital services tax that has been requested by Donald Trump.”[3] 
  • “Reform federal funding programs for arts and culture to ensure that funds be better directed to organizations and presenters supporting Québécois culture.”[4] 
  • “Reform copyright to account for challenges stemming from the digital age, including the obligation to divulge sources used by AI and a review of the fair use provisions”[5] 
  • “That businesses no longer benefit from a tax credit for social media ad buys, to the detriment of traditional media”[6] 
  • “Renewal of support measures for written press, including sharing ad revenues generated by Web Giants, newsroom support and support for the distribution of local newspapers.”[7] 
  • “Allow artists to average their income over several years for tax purposes.”[8] 
  • “Work with cultural industries and the Union des Artistes to facilitate artists’ access to employment insurance as seasonal workers.”[9]  

Key points and analysis  

  • The BQ platform is typically rich with cultural policy proposals. Arts and culture is top of mind for the BQ – and for the people of Quebec. 
  • The repatriation of cultural powers (legislative, funding, etc.) from the Federal to the National (Québécois) level is a long-standing BQ policy pillar. 
  • The BQ’s platform positions the defense of culture and cultural sovereignty as key in 2025.  
  • The proposed copyright reform and other measures aimed at protecting intellectual property developed in Quebec are consistent with asks from the Québec arts community. 
  • The arts and culture platform is not costed. 

 

[1] Bloc Québécois, Choisir le Québec : Plateforme politique 2025, 2025, page 7. 

[2] Ibid, page 20. 

[3] Ibid. 

[4] Ibid. 

[5] Ibid. 

[6] Ibid. 

[7] Ibid, page 21. 

[8] Ibid, page 21. 

[9] Ibid, page 21. 

Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) 

Arts and culture platform not yet available 

Green Party of Canada (GPC) 

Arts and culture platform available, analysis available shortly 

Liberal Party of Canada (LPC)

Arts and culture platform not yet available 

People’s Party of Canada (PPC) 

Arts and culture platform not yet available