Evidence of meeting #106 for Canadian Heritage in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was board.
A recording is available from Parliament.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
No, I'm sorry, that is incorrect.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
Oh, we don't have emeritus directors. I'm sorry, I'd have to drill down on that. I apologize, but that's incorrect information.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
9:15 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
Well, we have achieved parity.
9:15 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
Five out of seven members are female. Then we have the ex officio members as well.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
That's an imbalance. Five are female and two are male.
Does that lack of parity affect your performance?
9:15 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
There are actually four male because we have the two mayors, ex officio, who do attend board meetings, and they do have a vote. It's five to four, like the Supreme Court.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
All right.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but at the Ottawa Art Gallery, my notes say that you have 17 board members. Is that right? Ten are female, so that's 59%. Again, it's a 60-40 split. Do you think that imbalance has affected your performance?
9:15 a.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa Art Gallery
I think it's allowed us to achieve the success that we have achieved.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
For Opera.ca, my notes say you have 11 board members: three female, eight male. That's 29% female and 71% male. Do you think that imbalance has affected the performance of Opera.ca?
9:15 a.m.
Executive Director, Opera.ca
We recognize that we have work to do within our own board, so yes.
9:15 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
Has it affected your performance? Do you think you've been a worse organization for it?
9:15 a.m.
Executive Director, Opera.ca
I think there's definitely room for improvement, which parity could bring to our board, to be really representative.
9:20 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
I think you did those numbers just to throw me off.
9:20 a.m.
Voices
Oh, oh!
9:20 a.m.
Conservative
Peter Van Loan Conservative York—Simcoe, ON
We'll go over the names if you want.
I have treasurers, executive directors, and emeritus directors on that list.
9:20 a.m.
Chair, Board of Trustees, National Arts Centre
No, I'm just kidding. Thank you.