Evidence of meeting #159 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 council.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
“Oh, no”, you're saying.
As I understand, the Auditor General's report didn't recognize any deficiency—
4:20 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
No. We were very pleased.
4:20 p.m.
Liberal
Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
—but they made recommendations that you improve corporate management practices and the management of grant programs. With all of these changes taking place, those seem pretty significant and important recommendations.
What have you done to implement those recommendations coming from the Auditor General?
4:20 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
We have almost finished the work, because a lot of those recommendations addressed the old funding model. The new funding model has been crafted to answer those deficiencies.
Frankly, at this point, we're on track on every recommendation. It was a very important report for us. I'm a fellow accountant; I know about auditing. I knew it was a nightmare to have that audit, that special exam, exactly in the middle of the transformation. The good news for all of us, for the community and for the Canadian public, is that it confirmed that we had the right direction.
One of the biggest recommendations is around IT systems. As you know, because you live in Ottawa—
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
—IT systems are very en retard. We're working a lot on that to catch up.
On IT, I won't lie: This is a very big issue everywhere in Canada and with the government.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Yes. It's a big issue to maintain the flexibility with the new changes.
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Yes, exactly.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Gordie Hogg Liberal South Surrey—White Rock, BC
Mr. Blaney, I'm going to turn it back to Mr. “Oh, no”.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
One minute is good. Maybe I'll get some more time later from another colleague or in the second round.
Monsieur Brault, is the regional equity model of funding a priority for the CCA?
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Yes, but from the perspective of the artists. I'm not working with per capita, because I cannot work with per capita.
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
I agree with you.
Here are some things, and I'll submit this to the record: Canada Council funding to Canada's four largest cities, to your point, per artist, for Montreal was $4,200 per artist; for Toronto, $1,800; for Vancouver, $2,700; and for Calgary artists, $1,200.
Are Calgary artists inferior to artists in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver?
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
Not at all, and those numbers don't work, for a very good reason. When you count an artist, there's a big distinction between what an artist is and what an artist who could be supported by the Canada Council is.
For instance—
4:25 p.m.
Liberal
Randy Boissonnault Liberal Edmonton Centre, AB
You just said the equity model is based on artists, and this isn't equitable.
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
No, it's artists who are eligible for the Canada Council.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
The Vice-Chair Conservative Steven Blaney
Perhaps we'll have a chance to come back to this subject later if some of the members agree to share their speaking time with you, Mr. Boissonnault.
We will now begin our second round of questions.
I'm going to turn to my colleague, Mr. Yurdiga.
May 16th, 2019 / 4:25 p.m.
Conservative
David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Just looking at my community, I remember that not all communities are created equal. For example, in Fort McMurray the industry is very active, and we see the municipality and local businesses contributing to the arts, but when you go further north, the northern communities don't have that luxury of support. The thing that I'm concerned about is the programming, the flexibility. In an isolated community up north, there may be a 100 people, and they don't have the resources to pool to qualify for anything.
In the case of operating grants, let's say, what provisions are there to enhance that community to be able to do something regarding the arts?
4:25 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
It's an excellent question. Your question is very important because it helps to debunk the discussion on per capita. If we look at the far north just on a per capita basis, we would not even pay attention to it, but we do pay a lot of attention to it because we think it's a moment in history when we need to give capacity to create to artists no matter where they are—and not to create for the south, but first to create for themselves, and then eventually for the south and for the rest of the world.
A lot of the work we do right now is to make sure that we do have a presence in those regions. We do send program officers. We do develop capacities to apply. We do simplify our programs. When you look the work that is done for certain communities in terms of supporting them to apply to the Canada Council compared what we do in Montreal and Toronto, it is six or seven times, but we think it's a good investment to make.
Actually, this summer, in August I will go personally to do a second big round in the north with some program officers to see where we are. We are very, very proud to say that over the last three years, we have significantly augmented our investments in the north, everywhere in Canada. What we try to do is make sure that we support first and foremost the organizations that are led by indigenous people or local people and that we support them on their own terms in their own context and not try to apply to them rules or context or models of business that may fit in big cities but don't fit in the north.
For us it's a priority. We have targeted funds to make it happen. I think we're making serious progress there. I'm pleased to say that if you read the reports from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, you'll see that one of the very rare recommendations that has been completely implemented was the one concerning the Canada Council.
4:25 p.m.
Conservative
David Yurdiga Conservative Fort McMurray—Cold Lake, AB
Thank you for that.
You know, one of the biggest challenges for any organization, even for programs within the communities, is the application process.
4:30 p.m.
Conservative
4:30 p.m.
Director and Chief Executive Officer, Canada Council for the Arts
That's why we try to simplify it as much as we can.