I will introduce both motions at once, if I may. Then we can either vote on or discuss each one.
I want to start by giving the political context behind my motions. Industry Canada has a marquee tourism events program. Last year, Industry Canada announced that $100 million would be allocated to various festivals throughout Canada and Quebec. Then there was a delay in announcing the recipients of the program funding, and we are not sure why. The announcements were made a month late.
The Francofolies de Montréal festival was denied funding. The decision was hard to accept, especially since it came barely a month before the festival was scheduled to begin. Organizers were never given any indication that they would not be getting their $1.5 million in funding. That is pretty significant. Then suddenly, after the funding was allocated, people learned there was a new criterion, one they had not heard of before. It was a post-game rule, if I can call it that. It had been decided that only two festivals per city would receive funding. That criterion did not appear anywhere. People found out about it after the announcements were made.
Furthermore, that criterion was not even respected, because Winnipeg received funding for three events. The city of Winnipeg received three grants for three different festivals. In the end, program officials did not take into account that Montreal is a city of festivals, one of its defining characteristics. We do not understand why such a criterion was applied to a grant program, especially since we know it was done after the fact.
In short, when I examined everything, I noticed that $12 million of the $100 million initially announced in 2009 had not been spent. Only $88 million had been allocated. What happened to that $12 million? Where did that money go? Why was it not allocated?
My first motion calls on the government to immediately reinstate funding to the two events, Francofolies de Montréal and Pride Toronto. My second motion calls on Industry Canada officials to explain why they cancelled funding for these two major festivals without warning. Who made the decision? When was it made? And why? That is what we want to know.