Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 25th, 2014

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

Thank you.

You are talking a lot about Canada's 150th anniversary. I assume that, like me, you have seen the wonderful initiatives taken by Montreal. Consultations were held to come up with unifying themes. For instance, the latest campaign was called “Je vois Montréal”.

Here is what I am wondering about. Are we working in a vacuum in the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage? Do our proposals make their way to the government? At the beginning of our mandate, we carried out a very in-depth study on Canada 150. Some of the recommendations were very clear. Among them was the following:

The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada make its plans known as soon as possible so that its partners at the provincial, territorial and municipal levels, as well as in the private sector, can begin planning.

In the museum community, everyone is scratching their head and wondering what will happen to Canada 150.

A witness also pointed out how much, in 1961....

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Mr. Nantel, I'm sorry, you're well over.

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

Oh, that's unfortunate.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

We'll have to move on.

Mr. Dion, for seven minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, thank you very much for joining us today. I just want to say that to your right is a great public servant, and I am not surprised by his rise.

I would like to pick up where your conversation with Mr. Nantel left off regarding the situation at Library and Archives Canada.

I would like to begin by asking you whether you were surprised by some of the comments, as it is rare for the Auditor General to be that harsh. He usually has some praise about the management of a specific aspect, but in this case, he says that Library and Archives Canada is not receiving documents like it should, that it is not managing to process them and that boxes are accumulating. The list goes on. We have spent $15 million in vain, as the digitization has not been done. I think that's what Mr. Nantel was talking about.

Did you know about this?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

As I already said, the issues raised by the Auditor General had to do with the responsibilities of the former Librarian and Archivist of Canada.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

That's not what I was asking you. I want to know whether you were surprised by the comments. Were you aware of the situation?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

We knew that there were problems because the former librarian and archivist was gone.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

When did you find out about those issues?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Do you want me to answer the question?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

When did you become aware of this?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

As I was trying to say, we have known for a long time that there were issues with the former librarian and archivist. We took measures to bring in a new Librarian and Archivist of Canada with extensive experience. He was given a plan a while ago, and he is implementing it. He has accepted the recommendations and is currently managing the situation.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

I would not want to place 100% of the burden on Mr. Caron, as you are doing. I am surprised he kept the position from 2009 to 2013. I am surprised that, in 2013, he was forced to resign because he spent too much money on Spanish courses. At the time, Mr. Moore thanked him for his work. So I am surprised to see that the entire burden is being placed on Mr. Caron.

If things were going so badly all these years, why didn't your government react earlier? Why can't you tell us today exactly when you became aware of those issues?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I do not know when exactly I found out, but I am telling you that we knew there were issues with the former librarian and archivist and with the the institution itself. That's why we found someone to take the reigns and remedy the problems.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

That's not what your government said at the time, when Mr. Caron left. Moreover, if your government knew there were issues, why did it cut $9.6 million from Library and Archives Canada?

Those cuts were made in areas related to documentation of the Canadian experience, preservation of continuing memory and exploration of documentary resources. While the organization was experiencing problems, the government cut $9.6 million, which accounts for 10% of the budget.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Dion, you know perfectly well that a recession was taking place, not only in our country, but around the world. At that time, Canadian jobs had to be protected, and that is what the government did. I am proud that Canada was ranked first in terms of job creation during the economic recovery.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Minister, I am talking about Library and Archives Canada.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I am coming back to that. We had to find a way to protect those jobs.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Your cuts hurt, Minister. That should be recognized.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

The way that was done...

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

I have a point of order. Mr. Dion is asking a question—

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Yes, but she's not answering.

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

—and the minister is trying to respond, and then before she even gets four words out of her mouth, Mr. Dion is interrupting her. Is there a way we could at least give her a little bit of latitude in terms of response?

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

If I had an answer, I would not interrupt, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Mr. Dion, let's try to be respectful.