Tourism and culture in the minority legislature: steady as she goes

Markham MPP Michael Chan will continue as Minister of Tourism and Culture in Premier Dalton McGuinty’s minority cabinet, unveiled 20 October 2011. He is one of just a few ministers remaining in their previous portfolio (despite no new faces being added to Cabinet).

Minister Chan’s reappointment will bring stability and predictability for the sector. It also suggests that the government will be staying the course on cultural files, holding steady to past accomplishments with little in the way of new initiatives. Any cultural announcements will almost certainly be filtered through the ‘jobs’ lens, the dominant priority of Premier McGuinty and his colleagues.

The stand pat position of the Ontario government was evident in this fall’s election, when, for the first time, the Liberal party did not issue a stand alone cultural platform, as it has done since 2003. Rather, the Liberals stood on their record. Citing a $4.1 billion investment in the cultural sector since 2003, the Liberal’s indicate that ‘creative-industry jobs have increased 15% - representing 39,000 jobs’.

Jobs results like this will be helpful to holding the sector in good stead as the Ontario government looks to contain its costs and address the fiscal deficit.