Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 4th, 2018

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

I shouldn't have said that media assistance was a band-aid because it's more than that. As the media people will tell you, $600 million buys a lot of band-aids.

I agree with you on the facts, but it's very clear that the Canada media fund has run dry as a result of gradually declining contributions by the cable companies. You offset that by granting tax credits, and I agree that's a good use of public money. However, people are making a lot of money in the process, and they should contribute more.

You said you could walk and chew gum at the same time. Are we to conclude that future legislative decisions will reflect the consensus in the cultural sector?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

The fund for journalists...

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

I apologize for interrupting you, Minister, but Mr. Nantel has already exceeded his speaking time.

I now turn the floor over to Mr. Long for seven minutes.

[Wayne Long, Saint John—Rothesay, Lib.]

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon, everybody. Good afternoon, Minister.

First, Minister, I want to congratulate you on becoming Minister of Heritage and Multiculturalism. I want to also compliment you on your passion and your transparency in tackling issues and answering questions. It's refreshing to see, so congratulations on that.

My riding is Saint John—Rothesay, in southern New Brunswick. It's an interesting riding. Number one, it's Canada's first incorporated city. It has a tremendous history. It's a Loyalist city. The city and the region are rich with nationally significant historic assets. Up until the last three years, there was a lack of focus, a lack of funding available, and a lack of avenues for these assets to apply for funding.

I'm thrilled to say that in my riding I have a Martello tower, one of the few left in North America. I have Fort Howe, which is nationally significant. I have Fort Latour as well as the Loyalist burial grounds, the Imperial Theatre, and the Saint John City Market. All of these are nationally significant historic assets.

I'm thrilled to say that our government has delivered on funding to restore the City Market, to build the Martello tower, and to build Fort Latour, a wonderful, nationally significant monument. We have also secured heritage funding to help restore the Imperial Theatre, one of the first vaudeville theatres in North America.

The list goes on and on. A lot of my mandate, a lot of my passion for my riding, goes into getting funding for those nationally significant historic assets. I'm thrilled to say that the investments our government has made in Heritage Canada have been substantial and have helped my riding immensely.

The other part of my riding is immigration, and my riding is becoming much more diverse. We are celebrating, more and more every month, multicultural events and celebrations in Saint John—Rothesay. Proponents in my riding, such as the Saint John Multicultural Association and Mohamed Bagha and the Saint John Newcomers Centre, have applied for, and received, funding through Heritage Canada. That has been transformational for them and for the riding in promoting multiculturalism in Saint John—Rothesay. This hadn't happened, really, up until the last three years.

Minister, one of your priorities is to lead work across the government to strengthen Canada's multicultural advantage by implementing a revitalized multiculturalism program and developing new initiatives to celebrate diversity to foster greater inclusion.

Can you give me an update on that?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

Absolutely. Congratulations for your great work on this committee. I definitely have to congratulate the former whip for putting you in. I also want to congratulate you on your support. I know how hard you work for your riding. I'm a witness to that. I've seen how hard you work for the expansion of the New Brunswick Museum in your riding. Keep up the good work.

[Wayne Long]

Thank you.

[Pablo Rodriguez]

Multiculturalism is extremely important, and it was included in my title, which is now Minister of Heritage and Multiculturalism. We added in the last budget, in 2018, an extra $21 million for multiculturalism programming. This brings new possibilities. I work with Gary Anandasangaree, my parliamentary secretary, on this.

[Wayne Long]

Minister, I will agree with you 100%. The Saint John Multicultural and Newcomers Resource Centre didn't have a vehicle to apply for this funding up until three years ago, so again I congratulate you for that.

[Pablo Rodriguez]

Let's congratulate the former minister as well. People can present projects to fight discrimination and prejudice. It serves all kinds of purposes. There will be also budgets for different communities to celebrate who they are and who we are as a community as we celebrate the dialogue between different communities.

I think these things are quite welcome. I have the chance to travel extensively across the country and I am saying to all of you on the government side, as well as to my colleagues on the other side, to tell your communities that they can apply for the many different programs we have. We now have funds for different events for communities to celebrate their own communities, and also if they want to have dialogues, des rapprochements entre communautés, as we say in French.

Thank you for raising that, because it's an important point.

[Wayne Long]

In the riding, Minister, Saint John is known as “the Loyalist City”. Until recently, it's been a very conservative city, and that's obviously changing, but the more we embrace immigration and the more diverse our population becomes in Saint John—Rothesay, the more important it is to celebrate multiculturalism. Until recently there wasn't an Asian Heritage month. An event recently celebrated Indian independence. All those events are key to building a community and a strong fabric in a community, so again I congratulate you on that.

I have another question—how much time do I have?

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

You have 15 seconds.

[Pablo Rodriguez]

Yes, thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

We are now going to Mr. Shields for five minutes, please.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I have five minutes, so I'm going to go quickly.

I asked how much the skating rink cost a year ago and was told $5 million. I asked again in December and was told it was $8 million, and I asked for the final cost again, and they told me to ask in December 2018. It's December 2018. Do you have the final cost for the skating rink on the Hill?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

If it's important for Mr. Shields, we'll be happy to answer.

[The Chair, Liberal, Julie Dabrusin]

All right.

[Andrew Francis, Chief Financial Officer, Department of Canadian Heritage]

The total cost was for design; construction; operations, including the security around the rink; ticketing; ice maintenance, because there's a Zamboni out there all the time; programming around the rink, which was quite substantial; removal of the rink; lawn remediation; site preparation; and the relocation of the rink to a community after the fact. The grand total for the whole project was $6,950,000.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

The number we received earlier was $8.2 million, and that was publicized. Are you saying it was reduced?

[Andrew Francis]

Yes. The total cost of the rink was $6,950.000. There were estimates as the project was going on, and as with many estimates, we have to err on the high side; especially when it comes to estimates; we can't surpass certain levels.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

The environment committee did a report on historic sites. One of the sentences in the report they tabled in 2017 was, “During its study, the Committee learned that Canada is the only G7 country that has not passed legislation to protect historic places....” Would you protect historic places under Canadian Heritage?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

It's extremely important, Mr. Shields. If I'm not mistaken, that's why we added an extra $55 million for official residences in the last budget, but historic sites is Parks Canada, not Heritage, if I'm not mistaken.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Historic places is Parks Canada?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

Yes. That would be Parks Canada.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Totally? Not yours?

[Pablo Rodriguez]

The official residences I think are us, yes.