Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 29th, 2007

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Fine; thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you for that.

We go now to Mr. Brown.

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, Minister, for being here today.

I come from the riding of Leeds—Grenville. It's a rural riding. Often people don't think that arts and culture are important in ridings like mine, but in fact performing arts are very important in our area.

In budget 2006, our government decided to make some changes so people can “gift” securities on a tax-receiptable basis in order to help support the arts. I can tell you that this has been very well received. I don't know if you have numbers, but maybe you can tell us a little about the impact that budget change has made on the arts and arts groups. Could you tell us a little bit about the impact this change has had?

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

I did provide some information in my answer to our colleague. The impact is positive. Of course, this initiative has been very well received by the cultural community. Now, we will have to see what kind of impact it has over the next few fiscal years. I don't know whether there are already some figures available. Mr. Blais will provide those details.

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Do you have any estimates at this time?

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

The tax measure, of course, applies to all charitable institutions, but already we estimate approximately $20 million in the first period of this has been injected into the arts and heritage sector.

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

All right, thank you.

Minister, there is a lot of good news in the supplementary estimates. Maybe you can tell us a little bit more about some of the additional moneys going into areas.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

There is, indeed, a lot of good news. We are talking about additional funding of some $60 million for CBC/Radio-Canada. And I also would come back to the announcement we made with respect to the festivals. That announcement has been very well received all across Canada, particularly in the small communities, but also with respect to major events that required additional funding. This will allow communities all across Canada to pass on their legacy and their heritage from generation to generation.

[Gord Brown, Conservative, Leeds—Grenville, ON]

Okay.

I know there were additional funds for Library and Archives Canada, maybe you can tell us a little bit about that as well.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Additional funding of $12.9 million has been provided to Library and Archives Canada. Specifically, almost $600,000 has been earmarked for construction of a new records conservation facility. If we want future generations to be able to take advantage of valuable papers and objects that are kept there, it is important to ensure that we have appropriate facilities to conserve them.

A few weeks ago, I had occasion to announce to the Committee that $700,000 would be earmarked for an initiative relating to fair and equitable library services. This will mean that people with vision problems will have access to the extensive collection currently held at the Library.

Furthermore, we have invested almost $6 million in AMICAN, a system for managing digital publications. With the new technology available, it is important to provide Library and Archives Canada with the funding it needs to fulfill its responsibilities.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Ms. Fry, Mr. Fast, and Mr. Siksay, if we could each have one short question—either that or you take up the whole five minutes—that would make our round even.

Thank you.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the minister for coming. I want to reiterate, perhaps, or to echo my colleague's comments that it would be very nice if we could have you for two hours. That way we could explore a lot of things that I would have liked to ask about, not the least of which is that it's nice to bring in this yearly $60 million to the CBC. It would be really nice to make it permanent, and it would be really nice to give the CBC some money to expand its reach digitally and to build its infrastructure.

My major question, my focused question, is about the idea of passing on cultural heritage from one generation to the next, which the minister spoke so eloquently about, and about Canadian heritage. It's nice to hear that the minister says there will be no changes to the regulations with regard to foreign ownership. Therefore, my question relates very specifically to this.

We know that the Alliance Atlantis Canadian film distribution library is being sold to Goldman Sachs in a sort of a roundabout way to what is considered to be a Canadian company, but we know that's really a shell.

This is the largest and most comprehensive legacy of Canadian film and television fiction in Canada. It is an essential part of our Canadian heritage. It took 35 years to accumulate. There are 1,200 Canadian films in this library. It was built with $2.5 billion, mostly of taxpayers' money coming from Telefilm Canada, from the Canadian production fund, from federal and provincial tax credits, and SODAC in Quebec. This is taxpayers' money; this is not just another private sale.

This actually violates the 1998 foreign distribution policy that says that foreign ownership in Canadian film and TV distribution cannot exceed 30%. It also violates the regulations, which the minister says she's supporting, that Telefilm Canada can only invest in Canadian productions where the distribution rights must be held by a Canadian distribution company.

We know the distribution is essential to a viable and healthy Canadian film industry. I would like to ask the minister whether she's going to oppose the 1998 foreign distribution policy and the regulations to ensure that this library does not leave Canadian hands and go into a foreign company's distribution library.

I would like the minister's assurance that this will not happen.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you for that question.

I know that the whole matter of CBC/Radio-Canada is part of the Committee's work. Of course, we await your report and will review it carefully, when you make it available to us.

If I understood you correctly, you are talking about the issues surrounding foreign ownership. As I already stated, it is not our intention to change our policy with respect to foreign ownership.

As regards your final point, I would like to ask the Assistant Deputy Minister to add his comments.

[Jean-Pierre Blais]

Ms. Fry, apart from my function as the assistant deputy minister, cultural affairs, I'm also the director of investments under the Investment Canada Act, which the minister administers. As you know, Parliament has put very strict restrictions as to what information can be shared with respect to any matter we would or would not be looking at with respect to this.

I can assure you that the preoccupations that have been brought to your attention have also been brought to my attention in my role of advising the minister on the Investment Canada case. Unfortunately we're not legally in a position to discuss them publicly with you. However, the minister, I think, did point out that it wasn't her intention to change any rules.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

It's not really to change the rules but also to uphold them. That's all I'm asking for.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

With that, Mr. Siksay, if you have one short question.... We have about a minute and a half left.

That did take five minutes.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

I'm up to that challenge, Chair.

Minister, one important program that has allowed for important exhibitions to travel regionally across Canada has been the exhibit transportation services delivered by the Canadian Conservation Institute. My understanding is the department has cancelled that service. I know this will limit the ability of important exhibitions of galleries and museums to be transported across Canada.

I wonder if there is any plan to reconsider that, given the very serious effect that will have on our ability to share major cultural exhibits regionally in Canada.

[Josée Verner, Conservative, Louis-Saint-Laurent, QC]

Thank you for that brief question.

As I mentioned earlier, what happened in this case was that an employer-employee relationship developed within this program which violated Revenue Canada's rules. Of course, it would have been untenable for Canadian Heritage not to comply with government rules.

In that regard, people from the Department who are with me today, myself included, are concerned about this. As the Deputy Minister mentioned earlier, discussions are now underway. We believe the private sector is currently developing expertise in that field and that it could also offer very competitive services to museums all across the country.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you very much for that.

Thanks for the short question. Thanks for the short answers.

Minister, Deputy Minister, and Assistant Deputy Minister, thank you very much for appearing today.

The meeting is adjourned.