Mr. Chair, it's great to see you here.
It's great to have you here, Minister, as well.
I want to talk a bit about what I think was a great mistake by the Government of Canada, which as part of its war on history chose to exclude history and Confederation as themes for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. What's becoming apparent now is that is creating a real disconnect between where Canadians—Canadian society at large—are and where the government is, and it is sort of painting the government as being elite and out of touch.
I want to show to you that despite the government's decision to exclude history and Confederation, there's an enormous grassroots community-based sentiment out there that is asserting those themes despite the government's stubborn, bloody-minded refusal to do so. I'll give you some examples from some organizations.
The Canadian Press, for example, has been running its series “Canada 150: History of a nation”. There's a different feature every week on Canadian history.
The Canada Games Council's website features a photo of the Fathers of Confederation on its home page, and the theme of the 2017 Games in Winnipeg is 50 years of the Canada Games, 150 years of Confederation.
St. Andrew's Church in Toronto had an event “Singing Our History: A Canada 150 Celebration”.
The students at Waterdown District High School have prepared an exhibit that looks at local history and then connects it to the larger Canadian story.
The Toronto International Film Festival has been running an exhibition “150 Essential Works in Canadian Cinema History”.
You see that from organizations like that as well as from the universities and the academic sector in Canada. The University of Regina, for example, has been having a lecture series, “The Making of Canada Series”, which focuses on Confederation. York University is holding a conference “150 Ideas that Shaped Canada”. Simon Fraser University has been having a lecture series “Canada 150: Confederation in Question” which examines various aspects of Canadian history.
Then there are communities, of course, that are spontaneously doing this. Mine, Georgina, has focused on history. Brockville is celebrating 150 years of history in 150 days for Canada 150. Okotoks, Alberta, is celebrating “Our Place in History”, a community history since Confederation. Nanaimo is celebrating Canada's 150th anniversary with stories that intersect local and national history. Whitchurch-Stouffville is having historical lectures and a Jane's walk of pre-Confederation homes, tying it back to our history. Sault Ste. Marie is holding a number of events. My favourite is a Confederation lobster lunch to pay tribute to the original Confederation conference.
The disconnect between the sort of elite approach of the government to ignore history and where ordinary Canadians are is so bad that The Beaverton ran a satirical article saying that 75% of the Canada 150 budget has been spent on hiding the worst parts of natural history. When you can get satire like that, I think that tells you how great the disconnect is between what Canadians intuitively understand the 150th anniversary of Confederation to be about—it's about celebrating our history and Confederation—and the bloody-minded refusal of the government to include that as a theme.
I have no problems with the themes you have, but will you acknowledge that it was a mistake to exclude history and Confederation as themes of the 150th anniversary of Confederation?