Statistics Canada’s Report on the Economics of Canadian Culture

June 30, 2015

Alan Willaert  -  AFM Vice President from Canada

Statistics Canada just released a paper that outlines the Provincial and Territorial Canadian Culture Satellite Account (PTCSA). The PTCSA provides measures of the economic importance of culture (inclusive of the arts and heritage) across Canada in terms of output, gross domestic product, and employment, for reference year 2010.

The PTCSA details, for the first time, the economic importance of culture in every province and territory in Canada. It allows government, stakeholders, professional organizations, and industry to understand the contribution of the culture sector to each of these economies and use this information for informed decision making.

Here are some excerpts from “Income and Expenditure Accounts Technical Series—Provincial and Territorial Culture Satellite Account, 2010, No. 79”:

Culture contributed 3% to Canada’s GDP and accounted for 3.7% of total jobs in Canada in 2010. The importance of culture varied considerably across provinces and territories in Canada, from a share of 1.4% in Newfoundland and Labrador to 3.7% in Ontario. Culture jobs as a share of total economy ranged from 2.2% to 4.1% across provinces and territories.

Ontario and Quebec culture GDPs were above the national percentage. Culture GDP in Ontario was $21.9 billion in 2010 (3.7% of Ontario’s economy). This accounted for 45.9% of culture GDP in Canada. The number of culture jobs was 278,801, or 4.1% of the total jobs in Ontario. Ontario was responsible for 52.4% of Canada’s culture GDP in sound recording. This domain accounted for $298 million in culture GDP, 5,374 culture jobs, and $839 million in culture output.

In Ontario, the GDP of culture industries was $23.8 billion. It was composed of $18.8 billion from culture products and $5.1 billion from other products. The largest contributors to the culture industry GDP were audiovisual and interactive media ($5.3 billion); written and published works ($4.6 billion); and visual and applied arts ($3.4 billion) domains. The number of jobs in culture industries in Ontario was 301,090.

Quebec’s culture GDP was $10.9 billion, contributing 3.5% to the Quebec economy in 2010. As a share of Canada’s culture GDP, it was the second largest in the country at 22.8%. Culture jobs totaled 153,155, accounting for 3.9% of total jobs in the province. Quebec’s culture GDP was driven primarily by three domains: audiovisual and interactive media ($3.5 billion); followed by written and published works ($2.5 billion); and visual and applied arts ($1.9 billion). They accounted for 72.8% of culture GDP in the province.

The GDP of culture industries was $12.8 billion, or 4.1% of the province’s economy. The largest contributors to GDP of culture industries were audiovisual and interactive media ($2.5 billion); followed by written and published works ($2.4 billion), and visual and applied arts ($1.6 billion). Culture industries in Quebec produced $23.3 billion of culture and nonculture products in 2010. Jobs in culture industries totaled 174,790 jobs in 2010.

Culture GDP in British Columbia was $5.7 billion in 2010, representing 3% of its economy. There were 87,996 culture jobs in the province (3.8% of total jobs in British Columbia). In Manitoba, culture GDP was $1.4 billion in 2010, representing 2.9% of Manitoba’s economy and accounting for 21,863 culture jobs. Culture GDP in Nunavut represented 2.7% of the provinces economy and 3.8% of its jobs. In Nova Scotia culture contributed 2.6% to GDP, accounting for about 14,305 jobs. In 2010, culture GDP for Prince Edward Island was $121 million, amounting to 2.5% its total GDP.

The culture GDP in each of the remaining provinces combined amounted to more than $6.6 billion: New Brunswick 2.3% of its economy ($641 million); Yukon 2% ($46 million); Alberta 1.8% ($4.7 billion); Saskatchewan 1.4% ($854 million); Newfoundland and Labrador 1.4% ($379 million); and Northwest Territories 1.4% ($64 million).

To see the complete report and graphic representations visit: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/13-604-m/13-604-m2015079-eng.htm.

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