Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 25th, 2014

[Kennedy Stewart, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

But, Minister, we really are talking about $100,000 to keep the world's strongest magnet facility open. There are the numbers you're mentioning—and whether or not they actually hit the ground is another question—but we're talking about $100,000 to do this.

You're going to have 20 universities in Canada that actually have no access to this very important piece of equipment. I realize this isn't your responsibility, but the irony here is that you're part of a government that's making these cuts and decisions that are affecting universities, researchers, and students.

I find it a little ironic that you're claiming to celebrate science and technology but at the same time you're just making massive cuts to—

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you, Mr. Stewart.

We're going to have to move over to Mr. Yurdiga, for five minutes.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Minister, thank you for being here today.

As Canadians we really hold human rights very high and that's who we are. We are Canadians and we believe in human rights.

On December 10, Canada will observe Human Rights Day. Can you comment on the importance of building a new museum for human rights?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Now you're talking to my heart.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is going to celebrate, along with many other countries. It's a celebration but it's also a sad time. We look to our past to learn from mistakes made by others so that we don't repeat them. The Museum for Human Rights is a creation not only by government, because government is taxpayers.... Taxpayers wanted us to invest in this one-of-a-kind—and I mean “one-of-a-kind” in the world—museum so that we can teach others to be respectful, to be a peaceful nation, and to learn from our mistakes.

The Museum for Human Rights combined taxpayer funds, and there were thousands of people who donated. The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights collected donations. It's one of the largest sums of money ever collected in our history in donations for a national institution. I need to take a moment to thank Gail Asper for chairing this very important fundraising effort, and for seeing the museum of her father, Izzy Asper, come to fruition. She and her brothers were phenomenal champions.

I'm just so proud that our Prime Minister agreed to invest $100 million in capital so that the museum could be built, and to make it a national museum. He is the only person who could make that happen, and Gail Asper has recognized our Prime Minister's commitment and his courage to do so. The fact that they will receive, in perpetuity, some $21 million a year for operational expenses is obviously a demonstration of his commitment to human rights.

Our Prime Minister has so many other initiatives that we could speak about, that we as a government support, such as his maternal and child health initiative, which has raised some $7.8 billion apparently. He has continued abroad to fight for human rights in China, for example, and doesn't ever stand down. He stands up for what's right. He, in my opinion, is one of our champions of this generation, fighting for the rights of those who are more vulnerable, fighting for human rights here and abroad.

[David Yurdiga, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Thank you for that.

I understand that come January we'll be offering free admission every month. How important is that to our community? I realize that our students are always trying to understand their past; and we have a checkered past, as everyone does, with the aboriginal issues. How important is this to educate our youth?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

The museums, of course, operate independently so I have to commend the museum executive and staff for committing to this initiative. Our students are the ones who will pass on this information to the next generation and as the students learn about past atrocities, as they learn about how government and nations dealt with those atrocities, I think it will make for leaders who will be more cognizant, and more aware, and more careful because our youth are the leaders of the future. I think it's imperative that our students have access to these museums.

Thank you to our museum executives who do this work and who put forward these initiatives year after year so that students can access these national institutions free of charge and improve their knowledge not only of our history, but the history of other countries.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much, Minister, and thank you for appearing today.

We are going to briefly suspend.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

I'm going to call this meeting number 29 of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage back to order. Earlier we had the minister with us, as well as Mr. Flack and Mr. Francis. The minister has gone, but added to our panel is Patrick Borbey, who is the associate deputy minister.

We are going to start with a new round of questions. We will be having a seven-minute round.

We're going to start with you, Mr. Dykstra. You have the floor.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I find it interesting how it's always difficult for folks to stay on topic here in terms of what we're discussing today. It's not always the most exciting thing in the world to be reviewing estimates, but I do want to get a couple of things clear. I know that there were a lot of questions asked regarding the CBC from a funding perspective. I wonder if you could identify the current level of funding for the CBC this year.

[Graham Flack]

Appropriations from the Government of Canada are $1.038 billion.

In addition, the Government of Canada contributes to the Canada Media Fund, along with private sector broadcasters, and the CBC receives, on a competitive basis, funds from the Canada Media Fund. So I guess it depends, if you want to.... That's not an appropriation, but it is a funding stream. CBC gets about a third this year, I think, of the English-language stream, and a little more—38%—of the French-language stream in terms of the Media Fund.

Depending on how you want to calculate it, that gets you up over about $1.1 billion.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

In terms of appropriations, you mentioned appropriations that would be made during the year. Are any of these appropriations within the $93 million or $94 million in appropriations that have been made under the supplementary estimates that we're talking about today? Are there any additional funds that have gone to the CBC?

[Graham Flack]

Under the supplementary (B)s, we aren't seeking additional funds for the CBC.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Okay.

From a historical perspective, what was the level of funding in 2005-06 for the CBC?

[Graham Flack]

In 2005-06, on the appropriation, again, a comparative figure for this year is $1.038 billion. In 2005-06, it was $1.097 billion in terms of Parliament's appropriation.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thanks.

There's another piece of all of this. I'm going to change topics a little bit here. The minister mentioned this. I wonder if any one of the three of you would mind going into a little more detail.

One of the significant pieces in appropriations this year under the supplementary estimates we're dealing with today is the funding to the Toronto Community Foundation for the Toronto 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games sport legacy fund. The minister mentioned the half a billion dollars that the federal government has invested in the games for 2015. The games take place in a number of different municipalities, both within Toronto and in Hamilton and in my area of St. Catharines. Welland is actually hosting the kayaking. It's obviously going to be very significant for a number of municipalities in Ontario.

The minister mentioned the $500 million that had been invested. There is $65 million that has been appropriated for the community foundation. I wonder if you could briefly describe where that $65 million will be going and what it will be used for over the next number of years.

[Graham Flack]

I'm going to turn to Patrick for the details because he tends to work most closely with Minister Gosal on the sport side.

As you indicated, the figure of up to $500 million is a combination of infrastructure spending and of legacy spending on ensuring that the key facilities actually have an enduring life. This is a lesson that we've learned from past major events. Following the event, you not only want to have had the capital funding to have created the venue, but you also want to have the funding to keep that venue operating for athletes over the long term. That's the legacy piece. The other two pieces are federal services that will need to be supported for the games, and we also have a $6-million cultural strategy.

I can maybe turn to Patrick, who will talk to you about where the funding will go, the $65-million legacy funding, which is the supplementary (B)s piece, to the three specific facilities.

[Patrick Borbey, Associate Deputy Minister, Department of Canadian Heritage]

There are three facilities, where we will be negotiating legacy agreements to ensure that funding will be available in perpetuity to maintain those facilities and to provide access to Canadians to continue to develop sports way after the games. The three legacy facilities are the CIBC Pan Am/Parapan Am Aquatics Centre and Field House at the Scarborough campus of the University of Toronto, the Cisco Milton Pan Am/Parapan Am Velodrome, and the CIBC Pan Am/ Parapan Am Athletic Stadium at York University.

Those are the three facilities that would benefit from this fund. Again, we will be negotiating funding arrangements with each one of them, to ensure that those funds will serve Canadians in the future.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

The funding is pretty significant: $65 million. Is this a one-year, five-year, ten-year? What is the long-term strategy in terms of the allocation of funds?

[Patrick Borbey]

This is equivalent to an endowment, where we will provide funding that the organizers, the holders of the facilities, will have to maintain in perpetuity.

[Rick Dykstra, Conservative, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you.

I don't know how much time I have left, Mr. Chair, but I'll try to get this out on the table, as I think it's critical to the key milestone of 2017. It is the funding to support the commemoration of key milestone anniversaries on the road to 2017. Again, a fairly significant amount of money is being invested and it's found in the voted appropriations in our estimates here, $11 million.

I'm wondering, Mr. Flack, if you could speak a little bit to that in terms of the ministries. We certainly know the government's position on the celebration of 2017, but the process in which it is driven will be done under your leadership. I'm just wondering if you or Mr. Francis or Mr. Borbey could comment on how we're going to do that.

[Graham Flack]

The department has existing programming around commemorations and celebrations. So even outside of this cycle, we would have some limited funding available to mark key events.

With the supplemental funding, the $11 million that's proposed, that will allow us to more significantly invest in the range of key events between now and 2017, in the lead-up to it.

I would just maybe throw out a few examples of some of the projects that have already been funded this fiscal year. Linked to the Charlottetown conference and the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown conference, there was a project called Women's Network, A Bold Vision that was a leadership conference. As you know the Fathers of Confederation were all fathers; they weren't mothers. This conference was designed to build on the legacy from the conference itself to put a prominent place for women's leadership going forward.

Another example is

the Rendez-vous naval de Québec in 2014.

It's another event that was funded in the lead-up to this. The supplemental funding will permit the range of events the minister talked about and many other community events to allow us to build momentum towards 2017, with funding through that. That will be done through the normal programming and controls the department has in terms of accepting applications from community groups and then responding to them.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much, Mr. Flack.

Thank you, Mr. Dykstra.

We will now go to Mr. Nantel for seven minutes.

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

Mr. Flack, given your vast experience, I would like to ask you a question.

Unless I am mistaken, in 2008, the Trade Routes Program and international touring support were abolished.

Can you give me a rough idea of how much money was going to those initiatives?

[Graham Flack]

I should point out that I joined the department four months ago. Off the top of my head, I cannot tell you what amount of money was set aside for the international program, but we could find that out for you.

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

My question was about something specific.

When we look at the supplementary estimates that were announced today, we are happy to see that the Canada Council for the Arts has received an extra $127,000, which is good news. However, when we see that the money is used to support multilateral cooperation French-language theatre projects, we realize that it definitely has to do with logistics and transportation. That's sort of the bulk of the program.

My conclusion is that this amount is not a true budget increase for the Canada Council for the Arts, as the institution will have to take on a new role.