Rob Gloor, executive director of the Alliance for Arts and Culture, is disappointed Statistics Canada has cancelled its survey on government spending on culture.

The annual survey showed how much money the federal and provincial governments spend directly on performing arts, visual arts, libraries, and other areas.

“It will be much more difficult for us to determine the progress over time of arts funding from provincial and federal governments,” Gloor told the Straight.

A Statistics Canada spokesperson said the survey was eliminated because of a $33.9-million federal budget cut to the national agency.

“In order to decide how to meet this cut…the agency conducted a thorough review of its activities to manage its resources and priorities,” Johanne Denis, a director with the Statistics Canada demography division, told the Straight. “We did that ensuring that we maintain a balanced national statistical program that accurately measures the economy and society.”

The last edition of the survey findings was released in early April.

“There are other ways, I suppose, to gather this information, but Statistics Canada's methods meant that the information was gathered in a consistent manner year over year,” Gloor said. “It's always, I think, a shame when we lose access to information that has been available to us over time.”