Budget watch: Ontario libraries look to make up ground on provincial funding

Budget season is upon us, with most of the attention focused on Finance Minister Jim Flaherty’s budget and the speculation of whether it will trigger an election or not. The cultural sector has a wish-list for Ottawa, though expectations are low that any of it will be addressed on 22 March.

The Ontario budget, anticipated around the same time as the federal one, has had decidedly less attention from the cultural sector. In the two weeks of pre-budget hearings held across the Province, arts, heritage and cultural organizations were decidedly absent.

The single and noteworthy exception to this is the library sector. Several libraries appeared before the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, rallying behind the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries. According to its spokesperson, Jim Bennett, provincial library funding was cut in 1996-97 by 40% and has remained at that level, of $18.7 M since that time. It is the lowest provincial per capita funding in the country. This, they say leads to an overreliance on municipal support for libraries.

To fix the problem, libraries across Ontario want the province’s contribution to grow to $43.9, an increase of over $25 M, over two years. This is to bring provincial library funding back to the equivalent of where it stood in 1995, and respond only to CPI and population growth.

The Federation of Ontario Public Libraries says that Culture Minister Michael Chan has acknowledged the need to fix library funding. Time will tell whether 2011 is the year where it will happen.