Québec, March 24, 2026. – In 2023-2024, total spending on culture by the Québec government stood at $3 billion, up 22% from 2022-2023. This represents 2% of the government’s total spending and exceeds the record high proportion from the first year of the pandemic (1.85%), when the government had offered unprecedented amounts to support culture.
This information comes from the analysis Les dépenses en culture de l’administration publique québécoise en 2023-2024 (in French only) published today by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications of the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Internal and tax expenditures up
Tax expenditures (tax credits) on culture jumped to the highest level ever seen in 2023-2024 and reached $1,343 million, up 57% from 2022-2023. These expenditures represented 44% of the Québec government’s spending on culture in 2023-2024, versus about a third in 2022-2023.
Internal operating expenditures such as salaries and purchases of goods and services rose for the fourth consecutive year. They reached another historic high and totalled $591 million, up from $513 million in 2022-2023 (+15%). Internal investment expenditures also increased for the fourth year, rising from $81 million in 2022-2023 to $94 million in 2023-2024 (+17%).
Meanwhile, external expenditures—which include grants, contributions and transfers to individuals, associations, businesses and municipal governments—declined (-2.1%) due to a drop in external investment spending.
Wide regional disparities in per capita direct spending
The regions of Montréal and Capitale-Nationale receive the largest share of direct spending on culture, which includes internal and external operating and investment expenditures but excludes tax expenditures. This is due to the presence of major public cultural institutions and a high concentration of artists and cultural organizations and businesses in these regions. In 2023-2024, the Québec government spent $494.56 per capita on culture in the Capitale-Nationale region and $417.33 in the region of Montréal. In the other regions, per capita cultural spending ranged between $43.72 (Laval) and $212.63 (Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine).
Greater spending in certain cultural fields
When all (direct and tax) expenditures are taken into account, the Cinema and Audiovisual (31%), Multimedia (14%) and Libraries (11%) fields hold the largest shares of total spending. Together, these three fields accounted for over half (56%) of total spending on culture in 2023-2024.
When only direct expenditures are considered, the cultural fields with the most spending are Libraries (20%), Heritage, Museums and Archives (16%) and Performing Arts (13%).
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