Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 27th, 2014

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

Well, Santa Claus could bring the skates and hockey stick.

[Landon French]

I would say that there are a lot of parents and hockey organizations and other organizations that would work together to help the kids get into the sport. I would just have to get them through the door, and I know there are a lot of parents who help, along with organizations like Jumpstart and our dealers and others across the country.

In Montreal this year, in partnership with the Montreal Canadiens Children's Foundation, we collected a thousand pairs of skates in exchange for pairs of tickets to a Red-White Scrimmage game at the Bell Centre. We will be distributing those skates back through to the community. I think there is a way to do it, for sure.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

You said you think a third of families, their children can't participate in sports because of.... I suspect it's much higher than that, because if you do any kind of survey like that, people have pride. They're not going to tell you. They are going to say, “We're too busy” or whatever. They are not going to say, “Sorry, I can't put over the $1,000” or whatever, so I think it's higher than that.

You've been working with the schools. I want to ask you something. We did a study in this committee on the video gaming business. It's a huge business. They produce incredible creative games that are incredibly engaging. My son is now 28, but when he was a teenager, when the next game came out, we had to buy it for him. I've seen this. This is powerful to keep him on the couch. What should parents, schools, and governments be doing to, as Nancy Greene Raine said, get them off the couch?

[Landon French]

I think you need to regulate that screen time. That's really what it comes down to, and that's a big responsibility of the parent—

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

That's the parents, not us.

[Landon French]

Right.

I think part of it, too, is that you can use technology to get kids moving. If they have these devices in their hands, how can we, the adults, develop the programs and the applications that make it fun to move? We've seen a huge increase in the personal devices that measure your heart rate, walking, all that sort of stuff, connected to phones, iPods, iPads, things like that. You'll see many of them under trees at Christmastime this year.

If those things can be developed in a way that connects with kids, in the right way obviously, and that makes it fun for them so they can track and do things, that would be a huge step forward.

[Terence Young, Conservative, Oakville, ON]

You are saying to combine the two.

I want to ask Monsieur LaBarge something.

Our regional chair in Halton, Gary Carr, was a professional hockey player in a previous career. I've been talking to him. Every once in a while I see him; I run into him every few months. He is in great shape. He lost a ton of weight that he didn't want to have by walking. He and his wife walk a lot, so I started to do it with my wife. We go to the conservation areas in Halton. We have beautiful conservation areas, and we have access to the Bruce Trail.

I want to ask you something. I am talking about financial barriers. I know there are solutions elsewhere. Any family can go to the mall and walk around for free. However, to go to the Halton region conservation areas, it's $16 if you want to go for a walk. They say, “Well, you should buy a pass for $150.” Some people don't have $150. A lot of people live paycheque to paycheque. What do they do in other communities to give people access to a place where they don't have to pay $16 to go for a walk?

[Paul LaBarge]

In fact, probably the most successful programs we've had are where the municipalities have made their municipality part of the Trans Canada Trail. I'll give you an example.

In Charlottetown, P.E.I., there is an old people's home that happens to be adjacent to the trail, where there's a section of 200 to 300 yards that's paved; it's the only paved section around. I was asking why that is. They said that it's because they want to make sure the people from the old people's home can use their walkers on the trail, which they can't do on a gravel surface.

The municipalities, provincial parks, federal parks, you sometimes have admission costs there. Probably the most frequently available trail has been through the municipal participation. Here in Ottawa, the NCC has been a huge participant, as well as the City of Ottawa. It's the same thing for the City of Toronto. Quite frankly, where the Federation of Canadian Municipalities gets on board, signs up, and builds trail as part of the commuting activities, as well as providing accessible exercise space that is safe for their residents, that's by far the best alternative.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Thank you very much. We're going to have to wrap up there, Mr. Young.

We're going to go to Monsieur Nantel.

Mr. Nantel, you have six minutes. Go ahead.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much, Mr. LaBarge and Mr. French, for being with us today.

Mr. LaBarge, we met at an event back in May, and you told me where things stood with the Trans Canada Trail. I remember you saying that, contrary to what I might think, things were going well in Quebec.

[Paul LaBarge]

They are going very well.

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

We also talked about the fact that one of the major challenges with the trail was signage and visibility.

Can we do anything to get municipalities to do more about trail signage? I have the feeling that if someone were to look at a map on one of those notorious devices and notice that the Trans Canada Trail was close by, they would wonder what it was. In celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary, one would imagine that efforts would be made to encourage people to explore the country, take the train and get off at a certain spot, carry on by foot and so forth.

What can we do to get cities to do more about signage?

[Paul LaBarge]

It's more a matter of putting up signs. To be honest, we are making a lot of headway with municipalities in that they now recognize that the trail brings in tourism revenue.

Take, for example, the Parc linéaire Le P'tit Train du Nord recreational rail trail. I was talking to the park manager, and he told me that, in the course of a year, 550,000 people used the trail, which passes through a number of municipalities. And believe me, that trail has signs and visibility. People are aware of the trail.

So it has more to do with education. Once municipalities realize that people want to use the trail, that it is a place where people can be active and that it generates tourism revenue, they put signs up.

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

Okay, thanks.

This is actually an issue we should look into, especially since 2017 is looming.

Mr. French, when we last met, I told you that I had bought all the items sold by the foundation, all the PressureBalls that could be bought at my local Canadian Tire, Mr. Gagné's store.

The Canadian Tire chain is obviously at the centre of this active family initiative. I am also thinking of your latest campaign at Sports Experts called “Get Out and Ski”. You have to see the advertisement. You see people telling themselves that it's winter time, and they want to stay warm and comfortable. They want to cook and wrap themselves up in a cosy blanket and, suddenly, a bunch of snow hits them in the face. That's when they realize they are in a northern country and should go outside. It's a great advertisement.

Do you feel that more could be done in terms of collaboration with schools? The situation you described is probably, and unfortunately, the same everywhere.

Do you have an impact in Quebec? Is the Jumpstart foundation working well everywhere?

[Landon French]

Yes, it's national, for sure.

In Quebec, we're very proud of camp Bon départ, which is in Wentworth, just north of Montreal. We work with the social service agencies across the province to bring 500 children to our camp there. The dealers in Quebec have built that camp over the past 25 years. It's amazing. Some of these children show up and they have all of their belongings in a garbage bag. They get on the bus. They're angry, and they're scared, and they're not sure what's going on because they've not been out of the north end of Montreal or in a rural area before. They come to the camp and they spend 10 days with the counsellors. They make friends, and we return completely different children back to the parents. It's a very heartwarming, and an important part of what our dealers do in Quebec.

I was in Quebec City last week and saw a cheerleading class. The parents of these kids get home quite late after school. Out of a school of about 400 children, 160 of them participate in Jumpstart-funded classes, either at lunch or after school, to keep them active and busy, and to keep some of them out of trouble.

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

Congratulations.

Can you quickly tell me whether Canadian Tire will get involved in this event? Can we hope to see a brochure promoting it in the store's flyer?

[Landon French]

Today's communications around Active at School are a good example of what we would be willing to do and what we are capable of doing. That's using our own communication channels, but also our different businesses, whether it's Atmosphere, or Intersport, or S3, in Quebec, as well as Mark's and our Canadian Tire Financial Services. We have a lot of different tools to put into place. Again, we can motivate our employees, which is a strong force of 85,000 people.

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

I remember an athlete who was welcomed in my region with all the Canadian Tire staff. That was very stimulating for young people.

I will not give the last minute of my time to my colleague. I will rather use it—and our witnesses will understand that this is necessary—to move a motion I mentioned at the last meeting. The motion reads as follows:

That the Committee undertake a study on the effects of the budget cuts to the CBC/Radio-Canada's social, cultural, heritage and real estate assets and those related to the production of Canadian content, and that this televised study concludes before March 31st 2015, and that the Committee produce satisfactory recommendations.

I would like us to vote on this motion today.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Did you want to vote on it now, or do you want to let us finish the panel first?

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

It doesn't have to be right away, but I do like the idea of voting now because our meeting is public.

If we can vote publicly later, that's also fine.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gord Brown]

Let's finish up this panel first.

There's about 25 seconds left, so we'll move to Mr. Hsu for seven minutes.

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Mr. French, I remember attending a Canadian Tire Jumpstart event at the Boys and Girls Club in Kingston, which was quite well attended, and I think a very good community to be present in.

I have a question for both you and Mr. LaBarge.

How can the federal government best collaborate with your organizations to advance the spirit of this bill that we're discussing today? What can the federal government do in particular? Can you provide specific ideas for the federal government to promote and encourage health and fitness? Particularly, do you have any ideas related to the 150th anniversary of Confederation coming up in a couple of years?

[Paul LaBarge]

There are probably two things that I would suggest. One is that I think completing the trail would be a tremendous statement, both in terms of the commitment to.... Well, it's not just both; it's commitment to our history, to our cultural origins, to our country in terms of its geography, and it's a commitment to the health and fitness of Canadians.

[Ted Hsu, Liberal, Kingston and the Islands, ON]

Are there particular resources that you need?

[Paul LaBarge]

We are in the position where, for instance, if we talk about signage, it's a matter of fitting signage into the kinds of grants that the government gives to support the infrastructure program for the trail. So that's one thing.

We have things like using, as a training ground, the military engineers for building 140 bridges that we need in Newfoundland alone. If we look at the various parks, there is, for instance, a section that goes from Canmore to the park centre in Banff. More of those kinds of initiatives will be elements that help to complete this. In terms of a particular event, I like Senator Greene Raine's idea of starting the celebration on June 1 and going through to July 1.

One of the wackier things we've come up with is instead of doing a relay that starts at one end and goes to the other—through the snow, sleet, sun, mosquitoes, bugs, and everything else—that you actually do it all in a contracted period, because we have 1,000 different communities, and we encourage people from each community to go in both directions and link up with their neighbours. To do that, we're going to have to have people with tents, canoes—we won't have a lot of use for skis—bikes, certainly mosquito oil, and various other things. There is a significant economic contribution there.

It also can become, effectively, an opportunity to showcase Canada and all of its communities by making this not only a cultural and community event but also a media event. In fact, if we really wanted to reach outside of our boundaries, we could use the Canadian Radarsat satellite to identify all of these linkages and put up a beacon whenever they meet, and we would be able to photograph those from space. There are things we can do that are all part of initiatives that relate to the economic and physical development of this country, which the government continues to support. Already they have a matching program. We're burning through it quite quickly because Canadians are being very generous. I would encourage the government to increase that matching program to make additional funds available, so that when there is a generous donation by, for instance, Canadian Tire, to the Trans Canada Trail, that gets leveraged for the benefit of all Canadians.