Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 20th, 2011

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

No. We've kept going with the five-minute rounds.

Five, two, and one: how does that sound? Or we could debate it for two minutes.... Or two? Five, two, and two?

[Paul Calandra, Conservative, Oak Ridges—Markham, ON]

Why don't we go two, two, and two, and then get into new business? Does that work?

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

Okay. Thank you.

[An hon. member]

That's a good deal.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Mr. Weston.

[Rodney Weston, Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Well, I don't know if it's a good deal or not....

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Rodney Weston, Conservative, Saint John, NB]

I'll be quick.

I appreciate the minister's comments around the Bay of Fundy. Obviously we're doing everything we can to bring attention to what's happening right now with VoteMyFundy. With regard to the Bay of Fundy, I know that the committee heard from representatives here on Tuesday. With the Bay of Fundy and the seven wonders of nature, there has been a lot of collaboration among different levels of government and different private sector and community sector groups.

I guess what I'm wondering about with regard to the 150th celebration is what sorts of consultations you are doing with the provinces, the municipalities, and the community sector. Can you outline that briefly for us?

[Daniel Jean]

With the provinces, an initial discussion took place at the federal-provincial-territorial meeting of ministers of culture last year. They brought in a keynote speaker, Mr. Thorsell, former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, who was actually very much involved in 1967 when he was young. We certainly plan to continue to engage with provinces and territories in what they'd like to see in terms of commemorating 2017.

As the minister said earlier, there will certainly be a process of engagement with our various stakeholders and our various partners to see what thematics and what things people would like to see in the context of commemoration of the 150th anniversary of Canada.

[Rodney Weston, Conservative, Saint John, NB]

When you talked to the provinces, was there any discussion around a commitment of funds? Looking at the projects that we're talking about here, we can see that there could be dollars expended. Was there a recognition that there could be a contribution required from the provinces as well?

[Daniel Jean]

Yes. Our experience in working with provinces on many of these commemorations is that they're always prepared to bring their funds to the table as well. Working together, we're able to achieve more.

As I said earlier in regard to the example of the War of 1812, there was $28 million, with $76 million leveraged altogether. You have some of these provinces, of course, who have locations for some of these milestones, whether it's Charlottetown or Quebec for the conferences, and there are others.

So yes, there will be discussions with provinces on how we can make sure that we put our resources together and achieve more.

[Rodney Weston, Conservative, Saint John, NB]

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Weston.

Mr. Nantel.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

My colleagues spoke about the 375th anniversary of Montreal and I would like to know whether cooperation could be considered. I am thinking of an advertisement highlighting the 375th anniversary of Montreal that would read, at the bottom of the page, "with the cooperation of Canada - 150 years." Could we consider this type of cooperation and even consider that some of the funds for the 150th anniversary would be allocated to the 375th anniversary and that it would be integrated into the concept?

[Daniel Jean]

As the minister explained, our programs enable us to commemorate important anniversaries, including those of cities. We are certainly going to consult representatives of the City of Montreal to look at what can be done for the 375th anniversary. It is important that we be able to focus on all the major anniversaries leading up to 2017 to create momentum around the 150th anniversary. We are going to hold talks with the City of Montreal, as we are going to do with other cities across the country. But we are working within a difficult fiscal framework. So we are going to try as much as possible to stay within our current budget.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

You've said that twice already, and I'm a little concerned. Can we anticipate a transfer of funds? This is what you seem to be telling us.

[Daniel Jean]

No, not at all. I simply want to point out that we have $1 billion for general programming. This includes our programs on official languages, on arts and culture, and so on. When there are anniversaries, through this programming and based on the criteria and existing programs, we can always inject funds into the channels for important commemorations. It could be the 150th anniversary or important events that will take place leading up to it.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

In other words, your department doesn't have an additional envelope for these celebrations.

[Daniel Jean]

It is too early to discuss a possible additional envelope for 2017.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Pierre-Boucher, QC]

Okay.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Thank you, Mr. Nantel.

Mr. Simms, for two minutes.

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

Thank you, Chair.

Thank you, Mr. Weston. I feel like I'm chewing into your time, but--

[Rodney Weston, Conservative, Saint John, NB]

You are.

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

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it.

Just very quickly, when it comes to celebrations of this magnitude on the east coast, for us, a lot of these programs are undertaken by Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. We have now five regional development agencies across the country. Have you reached out to them in regard to being partners in some of these events? Have you had discussions with them?

[Daniel Jean]

Absolutely. When we do these kinds of programs, we talk to all our regional development agencies. We talk to all the other federal partners, whether it's Parks Canada.... We talk to all the crown corporations that very often are involved in these things, like the Mint, Canada Post....