Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 1st, 2011

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I'm done?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

You're overdone.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Mr. Gill.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for taking the time and being with us here today.

I have a couple of questions about the Pan American Games. You talked about how the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games will be coming to southern Ontario and how the government will invest up to $500 million. How do you think that investment, coupled with the fact that Canadian athletes did so well in Mexico and will no doubt continue to exceed expectations in London 2012, will help boost the economy and create jobs?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Certainly there is the immediate impact of it as well. The infrastructure investments are $386 million. That's real-time jobs right here, right now, for those who are going to be upgrading and helping those facilities.

We also have $65 million, which will be a legacy after the games for high-performance and local athletes. This is the thing as well that I know Minister Gosal will be glad to come and talk to you about: the 2010 Olympics, the post-2010 Olympics, the Pan Am Games, and the post-Pan Am Games and the lessons we've learned. We obviously want to make sure our athletes do incredibly well on the national and international stage and continue to perform brilliantly.

But a lot of this is lost if we don't have a trailer effect that brings kids up; what we want to do is make sure that kids participate in sport and have access to athletic facilities, institutes, organizations, and opportunities. So part of the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games and the legacy projects for that are going to be focused essentially on kids as well. Those are some of the legacy projects that are at work, and the economic benefits will express themselves really quite clearly.

The bid for the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games, as you know, is a Toronto bid, but it really is an Ontario bid, and it kicks all through southwestern Ontario. The benefits will be widespread and well received. If it's proportionately anything like what we experienced in my hometown with the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, I think Ontarians will be very happy with the investment and the outcome of the games.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you.

You also mentioned that the Sport Canada hosting program allows our athletes to compete on home soil, brings countless benefits to host communities, and promotes Canada abroad.

Can you please expand on that?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Sure. The performance of our athletes is obviously something we have often used as the benchmark as to how successful the games are, but we also want to be very proud. We also want to find the next generation of brilliant athletes like Jennifer Heil and Alexandre Bilodeau; we want to find those great athletes who will be role models for kids in the future.

So supporting our athletes is something that's been asked for, supported by our government, and we're very proud of our investment. Those are some things....

I'm not sure, Daniel, if you want to talk specifically about the sports hosting program.

[Daniel Jean, Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage]

With $200 million invested in sport every year, we are the largest contributor to sport in Canada.

As the minister said, what it allows us to do with something like the hosting program is to bring in some of the big competitions, whether they are international, whether it's about the junior athletes, to give them a chance to compete against the best, to prepare for the future, and to at the same time encourage youth to participate but also to become elite athletes.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you.

I have another question for the minister.

Minister, can you talk a bit about what we're doing to commemorate the Queen's diamond jubilee, please?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I can. We have.... I'm sorry, I'm just doing a very quick mental check on what we've already announced publicly versus what we're going to be announcing publicly. I don't want to step on myself.

In 2001 when I was a member of Parliament, we had golden jubilee medals for Her Majesty's golden jubilee. We have a diamond jubilee medal program as well. We have an event--as a matter of fact, next week--where we'll be stamping the very first medal for the Queen's diamond jubilee. We also have events across the country to commemorate this incredible and remarkable 60-year achievement of Canada's Queen. Just yesterday, I signed off on the artwork for some posters and some educational materials that will be going across the country into schools, and we'll be having events across the country.

We had the visit of the Prince of Wales in December 2009, we had the visit of Her Majesty in 2010, and we had the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Canada last year. As someone who has had the incredible honour and privilege of being able to host each of these visits, and to be with them on each of their visits, I will say that the response of Canadians has really been very impressive. In spite of the…. I don't want to be too aggressive in this shot, but the stereotypical media coverage of how Quebec would react or how certain communities would react has just simply not been realized. The royal family has been welcomed with open arms in Quebec City, in Montreal, and in all parts of this country, and I think t Her Majesty's diamond jubilee next year will be another one of the events.

This is why I think it's important.... As the NDP mentioned, 2017 is important, but the road to 2017 is equally important. We have the anniversary of the Charlottetown conference, the anniversary of the Quebec conference, Sir John A. Macdonald's 200th birthday, George-Étienne Cartier's 200th birthday, and the diamond jubilee moment for Her Majesty across the country that will lead up to 2017. These are moments, not the least of which is the War of 1812, that we can't miss as a country, because we are a young country and we do have shared experiences that are in fact quite few and far between. To have events that are pan-Canadian in consequence, that every Canadian can take ownership in and feel connected to one another in, is something that is very important.

We have an obligation as a government, and all governments have an obligation--it doesn't matter if it's a Conservative, NDP, or Liberal government, every government has an obligation—to try to leave this country more united than we found it. This is a country that has always been full of cleavages and tensions regionally across this country, and we need to make sure that we seize these moments so we can feel closer to one another.

As I often remind people, Canada is the second-largest country in the world in territory and the 36th-largest in population. Because of the distance between each of us in our communities, when we have these moments we need to make sure we seize them, so that Canadians can feel part of a Canadian family.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

Thank you very much.

How much time do I have, Chair?

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

You have 10 seconds.

[Parm Gill, Conservative, Brampton—Springdale, ON]

So I'll give up.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Gill.

Ms. Boutin-Sweet.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Good morning and welcome, Mr. Minister.

I would like to ask you a few questions about official languages.

Could you give us an idea of the amount allocated to the official languages in the 2012 roadmap?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

The ballpark figure is $60 million.

You also have to understand that there are a number of budget envelopes. Our roadmap for official languages includes $1.1 billion over five years.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Sorry?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

The amount is $1.1 billion over five years. So 70% of the amounts are split between departments and are included in the government's supplementary estimates (A).

Also, there is $264 million on top of that investment. So roughly $60 million are invested annually.

It is a five-year agreement. We must also point out that the agreement was not affected by the economic crisis any more than it was affected by the government's decisions to try and save money in the past.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Is it not indexed?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I'm sorry?

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Is the five-year agreement not indexed?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

No. It's a five-year agreement.

[Marjolaine Boutin-Sweet, NDP, Hochelaga, QC]

Can this agreement be renewed after 2013?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

We'll see. It is certainly very important to protect Canada's official languages.

But, like any initiative or undertaking of this kind—since making an investment over five years really is a huge government-wide undertaking—there are some things that we will probably not do again because we did not get the expected results.

At the same time, some things turned out really well and we might renew them or even double them. We'll see.

A study on the roadmap and its impact on the regions is currently underway in both the House and the Senate Standing Committee on Official Languages.

At the Department of Canadian Heritage, we are also doing studies to see what we have been successful with and which objectives have not been reached.

So on the question of whether there will be another road map for official languages, there will always be strong investment into official languages, but a third road map.... Because the first one was under the Liberals, right, from 2003 to 2008? With our government, it was from 2008 to 2013, so five years pour les deux langues officielles.

So a third road map.... We'll see what successes and what missed opportunities we had with our existing road map and go from there.