Canadian Heritage Committee on June 5th, 2013

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

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

Could we bring it back to reality?

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Come on, you're going to run out the clock. This is a classic tactic.

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

Maybe offline they can ask Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Moore what movies they like and what they like on their hot dogs. But if we could talk about Bill C-49, that would be a real change.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Mr. Cash.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

The issue here is that there's no transparency in this decision. You've made an announcement assuming that there was some public announcement of the support of the mayor of Gatineau. Your decision about this museum was made, it seems, arbitrarily, or with some friends in private.

We had a long study of Canada's 150th birthday. This was never brought up once. The decision was made after the fact. The announcement of the money to spend was made, and then a consultation began for which essentially the decision had already been made. So it's valid to ask you how often and for how long have you been working on this in secret without the public's knowledge of this, and what's the connection? I mean, you seem to be very close to Mr. O'Neill. How often do you meet? We've been trying to ask this question for many months in various forms. So I have you here, and I think it's germane to the conversation.

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

I probably speak to any of our museum presidents, including Mr. O'Neill, every month. Maybe once a month. There's no difference between Mr. O'Neill and the heads of any other of our organizations.

Second, on this issue of secrecy, this is such a secret plan that I shared it with my heritage critic from the NDP. This is such a secret plan that I shared it with the leader of the Green Party. It's such a secret plan that I told Scott. It's such a secret plan, I told Jean Chrétien. My God, it's such a secret plan, I shared it with the former board chairs. It's such a secret plan, I was very proud of it and talked about it across this country over the past nine months since we announced this plan. With regard to Mr. Bureau, I had the same conversation—

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Are there records—

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

Let me finish. I had the same conversation—

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Are there records of your meetings with Mr. O'Neill? Is there a log of the appointments, how often you two have discussed this? When did you start discussing this, and for how long? And what was the nature of those discussions? It's just a simple question. Is there a log of that stuff?

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

I don't think so. I mean, he's not a lobbyist; he's the president of a museum.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Sure. And you decided to spend $26 million of taxpayers' money on a museum, which—you've already described the Canadian Museum of Civilization aptly and perfectly today as a great museum. You've already described....

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

The minister is—

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

Yes, but it could be made better and improved upon. And look, the fact—

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

There was no consultation with the public on this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

Okay, Mr. Cash—

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

Andrew, I didn't interrupt you at any point. Just let me answer—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

—allow the minister to give a quick response to this.

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

—some of the nonsense here. Look, I met with Mr. Watson in my office, and I asked him if he supported this idea, and he said yes. He said he thinks it's great. I believe he issued a public statement. And I asked him, “Can I publicly say that you support the museum?” He said, “Yes. Absolutely”.

I had the exact same conversation with Mr. Bureau. I said, “Here's what we plan to do. Can I say publicly that you support this institution?” He said, “Yes. I think it's a great idea”. So I've said so.

And you're right—

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Did he say that it was a great idea? Or did he say you could say publicly that he supports it?

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

Yes. Both.

[Andrew Cash, NDP, Davenport, ON]

Which?

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

Both. Look, even just—

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

We're out of time, as interesting as this is.

Minister, thank you for your time with us.

We're going to suspend for one minute, and let our next panel of witnesses come to the table.

[The Chair, Conservative, Rob Moore]

We'll get started again. From now until 5:30, we will have with us Mr. Mark O'Neill, president and chief executive officer of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, as well as David Morrison, director of research and content, special project 2017, exhibitions and programs.

Welcome, gentlemen. I believe the clerk has told you that you have some time for opening remarks before we move into questions and answers.

With that, Mr. O'Neill, the floor is yours.