Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 27th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Geneviève.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

Sorry, I didn't mean to get you—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

If she says she's unavailable, we cannot take her and bring her in on a stretcher or something...whatever.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Go ahead, Geneviève.

[The Clerk]

If she is unavailable, I would inform the committee, and they can decide whether they would like to be open to a different date or to go the route of the summons.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Let us know if she says that she's unavailable, and then we can make that decision.

All right. Now I will go to Mr. Waugh and then Ms. Ashton.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

In fact, Madam Chair, we might even get a bonus here when she comes on April 9. The head of the CBC might tell the committee that in November and December, added to the $14.9 million in bonuses that she has already paid out in 2023, she might tell us on April 9, “Oh, well, you know what? In November and December, I was Santa Claus, and we gave out more bonuses.” April 9 might be the nice date.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Go ahead, Niki.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, MB]

I just want to be clear on the timing and that the language we're using won't refer to the break weeks. I agree with the sentiment that this perhaps isn't as urgent as other matters that have to be dealt with during the break weeks. As somebody who represents one of the largest ridings in the country, I'll say that break weeks are critical to hitting the road. A lot of the communities I represent don't have quality Internet, so it's not always easy to drop everything and connect to committee during times when we've already booked travel.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Ms. Ashton.

I'm going to reiterate that there is only one simple amendment, and that is “for no less than two hours on April 9”. That's the amendment, clear and simple. It doesn't mention break weeks. Everyone is discussing and throwing in break weeks, but the amendment is pretty simple.

Mr. Noormohamed, are you speaking to the amendment?

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair.

In the context of this amendment, we've heard Mr. Waugh, whom I have tremendous respect for, make light of collective agreements and payments made under collective agreements. We've also heard him mock CBC employees who have lost their jobs and the competence of House of Commons—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

On a point of order—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Mr. Noormohamed, that is not speaking to the amendment.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

It is, Madam Chair, if you let me finish my point—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

It's your intervention, but you are in fact not speaking to the amendment.

If you wish to speak to the amendment, go ahead. You have the floor.

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

My point is that if we are talking about this date because somehow there is going to be some magical bonus issued....

I mean, I think the context is important. If we are asking someone to appear, setting these dates has clearly not worked. What I would like us to do, if the intention of the committee is to call somebody, is to make sure that we get the person to show up, and not just say “here are the dates we're going to give you”, and then it doesn't work, and then we move on to the next thing.

I have said this before and I'll say it again: setting a date has clearly not delivered us the folks from Bell, and that was a summons. If we're going to do this, we have to give people enough time to show up. The clerk is doing her work to make sure that people can show up, but this is an important consideration—

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Actually, Bell it was not a summons; it was an invitation.

Madam Clerk, I'm going to call the question on this amendment.

(Amendment agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

The motion now under consideration is an amended motion that adds, after the reference to Ms. Tait, “for no less than two hours on April 9”.

(Motion as amended agreed to: yeas 6; nays 5 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

Thank you very much.

Ms. Thomas, the floor is yours.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I wish to move a motion for consideration by the committee today.

The motion reads as follows:

Given that the Liberal government's carbon tax has had a detrimental impact on the cultural, civic, and economic life of Canadians, making life increasingly unaffordable and severely limiting their ability to support and enjoy the arts and culture sector, the committee report to the House its recommendation that the government should immediately cancel the carbon tax.

Madam Chair, I am happy to pause and give a moment for the motion to be distributed, although it has been on notice since January 26, and then I would like to resume—

[Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal, Vancouver Granville, BC]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order. I would like you to rule on the admissibility of this motion at this specific committee, please, because I am fairly certain we don't deal with carbon pricing in this committee.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I will ask that we suspend for a few moments while I look at the admissibility or inadmissibility of this motion.

Mr. Lawrence, please go ahead.

[Philip Lawrence, Conservative, Northumberland—Peterborough South, ON]

I believe it's permissible.

It says specifically, “has...a detrimental impact on cultural, civic and economic life of [Canada]”, and I believe that culture is directly within the four squares of heritage.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you for your input.

I'm going to suspend for a couple of minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

We're resuming the meeting.

We suspended so that we could discuss with the clerk and the analysts.

I am going to rule this motion admissible because it clearly speaks to the mandate of heritage. I have the mandate with me here. The mandate is to deal with the economic and cultural life of Canadians and to make it possible for them to experience arts and culture in the country. The motion speaks clearly in saying that people can't experience it. I'm going to rule it admissible and I'm going to entertain debate on the motion.

Mrs. Thomas, did you want to say something about it?

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Yes. Thank you very much. I appreciate that.

As a reference for the committee, I would highlight exactly what you've referred to here, Chair. Under the Canadian heritage mandate, which is posted on the government's website, it says, “The Department of Canadian Heritage...and its Portfolio organizations play a vital role in the cultural, civic and economic life of Canadians.”

That line, which then appears in our motion, is used by the government itself to describe the mandate of the heritage committee. It is appropriate that we would discuss, then, the effect the carbon tax is having on those things in Canadian life.

I'm not sure about other members at this table, but I have had the chance to meet with the head of Theatre Calgary. I have met with various theatre organizations and other entertainment organizations in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. I have heard first-hand from them about the difficulty they are having in regard to ticket sales.

They would point to the feedback they're getting from their patrons as to why they are not frequenting as much. The number one reason would be that life is unaffordable. It's that at the end of the day, folks are left with less disposable income. Because of that, they are making the decision to cut things like live theatre from their weekly, monthly or even maybe the activities that they would engage in once or twice a year.

As a result, these organizations or companies are having a really difficult time making ends meet. Those that I have had the opportunity to meet with, of course, are looking for greater support. They're looking to the government for that.

In fact, the government wouldn't be asked for that if Canadians could simply afford to go and participate in the activities they wish to. If they had the money in their pockets to be able to afford to go to dance, to music festivals or to live theatre, then these companies or organizations would not be left having to beg for a handout.

They do not wish to be in that position. They wish, instead, to be upheld, maintained and supported by individuals—by Canadians. Mainly, that's the way they want to be supported, because it would mean they have an audience, which is ultimately their goal. It would mean there would be people in the theatre who were watching these shows, who were excited about these shows and who were supporting these shows. It would mean that arts and culture were alive and well and being supported in this country. That is the mandate of this committee.

The mandate of this committee is to make sure the cultural, civic and economic life of Canadians is upheld and supported. One of the big ways the government can do this is by scrapping the carbon tax and making sure Canadians are not having to pay this punitive amount of money, which is attached to everything from home heating to gas to groceries.

This government is now scheduled to increase that carbon tax by 23% in just a few weeks, on April 1. When the government increases the carbon tax yet again, you can imagine the impact this will have on Canadians. It's robbing them yet again of disposable income and the ability to afford the arts.

I believe it is incumbent upon this committee, then, to take those things into account, to stand up for all arts and culture in this country, and to therefore recommend to the House that the carbon tax should be immediately cancelled so that Canadians are left with more money to be able to pay for the things they wish to spend money on, such as the arts.

I'll leave it there for now.