Canadian Heritage Committee on April 19th, 2018

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

I know, Mr. Mosker, you were attempting to finish, but one of the things that I would ask, because it is new and being set up.... I don't know what Ralph Klein, as mayor and premier, would have done without East Village. That was his second home, as he hung out in the blues bars with a beer.

I know you've been at this for many years, and as a start-up, you mentioned the CRA, but at the federal level, what specific a recommendation would you give us that would facilitate the next one that's starting up?

[Andrew Mosker]

Both this government and the previous government have been very supportive of making investments in infrastructure to help reinvent, in this case, an inner city in Calgary. Calgary, as you might know, is largely a suburban environment, and there was a real need, for sustainability reasons, to start building up the inner city. Both governments understood that, and led with funding and ideas.

The other thing the government can do is to be a champion. Even recently, since we're a start-up, we've had Minister Joly come to our space for the Junos in 2016 get very excited and engaged about this interdisciplinary model that we've [Technical difficulty--Editor] that celebrates some of the current activities we're doing in music now. Having champions is very important.

Minister Joly is only one person. Simon Brault, the president of the Conseil des arts du Canada, came here two days ago and did a full tour of the facility. It's the first time he has seen it. He tweeted messages about it, which is fantastic. That type of championing of a young organization, which in this case the Government of Canada has put $30 million in infrastructure money into, is absolutely critical, because at the start-up phase what you need more than anything is credibility. We haven't proven ourselves programmatically, so that type of credibility as a result of their saying that this is something they believe in and that it has great potential [Technical difficulty--Editor] forward, using creative Canada as an example, and there are other policies....

Being a champion and helping the start-up promote the space is hugely important. Recently the Government of Canada also brought the passport project to the National Music Centre, in conjunction with Manitoba Music, to help give Canadian artists export readiness skills. We hosted that. That was led by the Department of Canadian Heritage. Those kinds of investments and championing, in addition to the CRA opportunities, are great ways that you can help a start-up get off the ground.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Now we'll go to Mr. Hogg for three minutes.

[Gordie Hogg, Liberal, South Surrey—White Rock, BC]

In Denmark, the government takes a significant role. Their ministry of finance has set up a model that helps create hubs and integrate different strategies and models. I'm not sure that's a good model. I wonder whether you've looked at that and whether you see a role for government to play with that.

Secondly, I saw some research from Ashoka that said that social and cultural programming have created more jobs in the last 20 years than all businesses combined. Do you have any research on that, which might help tell a good story? Is that your experience? Is that what you hear as well? We talk about economic development in so many ways, but being able to look at it within both social services and cultural approaches and being able to tell that story is important as well.

Those are two one-minute questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

You have two minutes.

Let's start with Ms. Serrano.

[Ana Serrano]

Part of what we regularly do is to be quite rigorous in looking at the economic impact of the work we're doing. We essentially know how many jobs we're creating on a basis, because we have these rolling kinds of very detailed surveys of the people who come through the doors of the film centre and look at how they've impacted the economy. We have chosen not to do as much on the ancillary impact. We're trying to look at the direct impact, as opposed to if a production happens, considering what the other kinds of economic ramifications are for restaurants and hotels and those kinds of things. Our economic studies typically tend to be quite direct, which has been really useful for us. The results have been great.

I want to say two more things quickly in addition to what Andrew talked about, namely, what the federal government can still do. That is partially your question also, Mr. Hogg.

One, I think, is this notion of supporting social infrastructure. I think it's important to support capital infrastructure projects. As you guys have heard and alluded to, the results of these economic impacts have to do with programming. So thinking about the supports around the social infrastructure needs of hubs and cultural districts is going to be critical.

Two, I think it would be really interesting for the feds to maybe eat their own dog food a bit in trying to support the development of start-ups and more innovative enterprises. Are any prototype dollars to be used to try new models? I don't think there's any reason—

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

On that theme, I'm very sorry but I have to cut you off there and move to

Mr. Nantel.

Mr. Nantel, you have the floor for three minutes.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Andrew, I was browsing through the videos of the National Music Centre. I was wondering if you have video recordings of artists coming to enjoy your vintage equipment. You were referring to Émile Bilodeau. If I were you, I would love to see k.d. lang use that console in that Wurlitzer.

[Andrew Mosker]

Yes, we have recordings of all the artists who have come to record in our studios. Since March, I believe that you can find recordings of more than 20 artists on our website. I will check that. We always do a commentary about the artists who come to record in our studios.

We also organized a major exhibition on k.d. lang. It opened in July 2017 and will end in June 2018. She has not recorded in our studios, but we have at least held an exhibition in her honour.

Next we will be starting a new exhibition on another Canadian artist.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Very good. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

Thank you, everyone. That was very helpful to our continuing study. This is the end of meeting 103.

The meeting is adjourned.