Canadian Heritage Committee on June 15th, 2006

[Maka Kotto, Bloc, Saint-Lambert, QC]

Mr. Chairman, and Ms. Simms, you were sitting here last year when we were working hard on the Canadian film policy.

We haven't had the opportunity to work on film sets. We met people who work in the industry and who came to tell us about that industry and about their problems. At the same time, we had figures provided by our analysts and other objective data, and I think we can work the same way with the museums.

However, I would recall that we're not breaking new ground. We have the work that has been done. Time and energy have been invested. But that work is gathering dust on shelves. We can recover it.

That's why I would limit myself to meeting with people from the industry, with Canadian Heritage officials, in order possibly to go further, since the last election prevented us from adopting a policy.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Mr. Bélanger.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I have comments on a couple of things that have been said.

First of all, I don't think we need to go as a committee to these institutions. I think that any member of this committee who wishes to visit any of the national institutions would be welcomed with open arms by the staff there. They would give you the royal tour and you'd have a good perspective. I invite members to do so. There are even times during the week when it's free of charge. We can find that out for members.

But in doing that, we should be very careful in substituting ourselves for the boards that each of these institutions have in terms of setting priorities and asking for government support as required. There is a relationship we have to be respectful of.

In the fall or perhaps even next week, if we have an open meeting, I have no difficulty with having the Canadian Museums Association come before us, because there are thousands of museums in this country.

Monsieur Kotto is absolutely right, sir. A lot of work had been done in the past government to the point of moving forward on a financial recommendation for greater support.

The Canadian Museums Association has invited all of us, individually, I suspect, to meet. I've met them and I know others have. They've got a great presentation, which basically states there's full agreement on where we as a country want to go on that.

If the government of the day wishes to pick up that work and move on with it, it's ready. I'm sure the Canadian Museums Association would be delighted to come and tell us that. Let's start there instead, hear from them, and then take whatever other steps may be required.

In the meantime, I'm serious about this. If any of my colleagues on the committee want to come around for a couple of days or even one day this summer, we can organize a visit. I'd be delighted to host it, along with

the people who work in each museum.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Thank you.

Taking into account all of the things that have been said here today, why don't we take this motion and sleep on it until next Tuesday?

We can come back on Tuesday morning and, if anyone would like to revise anything that's here, we'll vote on it first thing. At the same time, if you would care to, we can bring the Canadian Museums Association here.

We've had a hard time getting other witnesses to come.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

We've had a hard time getting ministers.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

We've had a hard time getting the CBC here too.

Let's see if we can't get the Canadian Museums Association here. If they can come forward, then we'll try to set out our plan for the fall. Let's hope that we have some museum business on that.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Yes.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

Before you move on, if they decide to come, whether it's this Tuesday or the following Thursday, could we also have a summary of the work that has been done by Ms. Frulla?

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

We could have officials here at the same time.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

That would be very helpful. But I'd like to have some of that information ahead of time. Today was somewhat difficult. We had a lot of paperwork put on our desks without a chance to review it ahead of time.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Schellenberger]

Okay.

Without further ado, let's think about what we're going to do, not only next Tuesday, but next fall. Make sure you get your priorities in shape. What we'll try to do is get the Canadian Museums Association here. If we can get some ministry people along with them, that would be good. We'll work from there.

The meeting is adjourned.