Establishing the position of the Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate

A parliamentarian requested that the Parliamentary Budget Office prepare a cost estimate of Bill S-202: An Act to amend the Parliament of Canada Act (Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate).  The bill would establish the position of the Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate.  The mandate and administrative structure is intended to be analogous to the existing Parliamentary Poet Laureate (PPL).

• Estimates are presented on an accruals basis as would appear in the budget and public accounts.
• Positive numbers subtract from the budgetary balance, negative numbers contribute to the budget balance.

Historical budget data for the PPL was used as the spending base.

The medium-term projection relied on the historical moving average of actual spending, augmented by the PBO’s inflation forecast.

It was assumed that overall compensation and travel expenses for the new position is the same as that for the PPL.   A gross-up on total costs was applied to account for overhead expenses; based on the current internal service spending at the Library of Parliament.

An additional $40,000 per year was provisioned to account for supplies and equipment that may be required by the incumbent.

It is assumed that the Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate would begin their position on April 1, 2022.

There are two sources of uncertainty.  The first pertains to the uncertainty inherent in the PBO’s macroeconomic forecast.  The second relates to the timing of legislative promulgation and ultimate hiring of the Parliamentary Visual Artist Laureate.