Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 4th, 2020

[Lyne Bessette, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I thank our witnesses for being here today.

My questions are for the representatives of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association.

Sport Canada provides your organization with funding in order to distribute grants to support gender equality in recreational sports. I know that the grants have been in place since 2019.

Are your grants meeting the demand?

How are small community organizations that run facilities, such as a cross-country ski club, faring financially?

[Cathy Jo Noble]

Yes, we were pleased to receive funding from Sport Canada—we're now about mid-project—to encourage participation and retention of girls and women in sport, and often that might be found at a recreational level. We have a number of activities under that, including workshops and some activities in the north, but we also have community grants that are going out to small and large communities to implement solutions on the ground.

Due to COVID, there have been some adjustments to activities, and Sport Canada has been very generous in its flexibility toward some of those projects starting late. Certainly we're finding the program to be very helpful. Girls and women are just one section of the people we want to serve, and this program is serving us well right now. We're appreciative of it.

[Lyne Bessette, Liberal, Brome—Missisquoi, QC]

Thank you very much for your answer.

How could the federal government help promote recreational sports and physical activity in the current pandemic, and given that Canadians are becoming more and more sedentary?

How can the federal government better support small community-based organizations in this regard?

[Cathy Jo Noble]

I think the first step is to have Canadians feel confident in returning to public spaces and places to become active again.

Of two of our focuses, one is to make sure that we have the infrastructure funding to make facilities pandemic resilient, both for now and in the future. That involves a number of things, everything from single-person workout zones to open-air change rooms to dealing with physical distancing at pinch points.

I think one of the most important things in getting Canadians active again and making parents feel comfortable about their children going back to the pool or the arena is ensuring that the facilities have the support they need to open, because we are seeing that cities large and small simply have too much demand and not enough revenue left from what's been lost in this year to open up the facilities again.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you.

Sorry. You can finish your sentence if you wish.

[Cathy Jo Noble]

No, that's good. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Okay.

Thank you, Mrs. Bessette.

Mr. van Koeverden is next.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

C.J., it's nice to see you, and everybody else who is familiar. Mr. Roma, it's nice to see you.

Thank you for inviting me back to the heritage committee. It's great to be here.

I have a couple of questions for Mr. Shoemaker of the Canadian Olympic Committee. I hear you loud and clear on the need for more budgetary flexibility and training environments, and fees and revenues for national sport organizations and their associated NSOs, and certainly the community sport organizations.

As you're aware, last week we made available an additional $14 million for community sport organizations, and we're also moving forward on the international single-sport events, as you recognized, with the major events sports that rely on these revenues.

We're making progress; and like you, I'm committed to making progress on this issue. However, I would like to hear from you on what more progress means and whether the recent news has been welcomed.

Again, thank you. I wore my pin. You probably can't see it, but I'm wearing an Olympic pin today.

It's nice to see you.

[David Shoemaker]

Thank you, Mr. van Koeverden. It's quite something to be on the receiving end of a question from you in this setting.

I must say, on behalf of our sport system of all these national sport organizations, that we're deeply appreciative for the $72 million in emergency funding and the additional $14 million top-up to community sport and clubs, which is deeply needed.

There has been quite the partnership to find solutions as it relates to single events, and so on. We're very confident that there are solutions that will allow an event such as the Rogers Cup or Skate Canada and other big sporting events to take place going forward.

For me, the focus continues to be at the beginning of the sport continuum, where it's very difficult to get people back into sport and where I think a national agenda for national sports is the type of thing we need to invest in that will have real, positive outcomes. The example is Skate Canada's flagship learn-to-skate program, the program by which all others are measured,

That's still the gap that I see in the system at the moment.

[Adam van Koeverden, Liberal, Milton, ON]

Thanks very much for that.

You pointed out in your testimony, but I want to point it out again, that as the Canadian Olympic Committee is funded almost entirely by the private sector—and very successfully, I should add—so when you ask for money for the sports sector, you're not asking for support for the Canadian Olympic Committee but for your many stakeholder groups and all the NSOs that get by on shoestring budgets in many cases and rely on fees and revenues.

From your perspective in having discussions with those NSOs and the athletes over the past 10 months, how are the NSOs doing, how are the athletes doing and how can we do a better job of supporting both?

[David Shoemaker]

Yes, we're not asking for a penny for the Canadian Olympic Committee. The Canadian Paralympic Committee has come two budget cycles without asking for a penny for itself, and we're proud of that, but we do represent the system, and there are some nice stories. We read today about Nordiq Canada seeing a spike in interest in cross-country skiing and in the sale of cross-country ski equipment. However, by and large, there are incredible schisms in the system, and that needs to be addressed.

For athletes, at the top of the challenge is mental wellness. For elite athletes, the postponement of the Olympic Games for a year has created incredible havoc with their plans. In some cases, athletes who were going to compete are not able to do so, and they are financially challenged in creating an additional $22,000, on average, to delay their competition a year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Shoemaker. We'll have to leave it at that.

Welcome, Mrs. Desbiens.

You have the floor for six minutes.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Ms. Raymond, first of all, I want to thank you and all the witnesses.

I'm going to address Ms. Raymond, of course, because I'm the member of Parliament for Beauport-Côte-de-Beaupré-Île d'Orléans-Charlevoix and I'm a big fan of the Quebec Winter Carnival. I do not have all 67 figurines, but I have at least 50. The 50 figurines from the 50 times I was there are neatly stored in a small bag. I don't have them with me, but I promise you that I have them.

Thank you for having the courage to take this in hand in these difficult times. I salute you.

Ms. Raymond, I would like to hear more from you about the Marquee Tourism Events Program. For example, in my riding, there are three mountains: Mont Sainte-Anne, Le Massif in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François and Mont Grand-Fonds. We know very well that people who attend the Quebec Winter Carnival often come from outside the country and that, before or after the carnival, they frequently visit my riding, because it is part of an itinerary.

I would like to know if it would be appropriate for the program, which helped events like yours so much in 2008, to be reactivated quickly.

[Mélanie Raymond]

We would indeed like to see this program brought back as part of the recovery. We are talking about urgency and immediate needs, but we are looking beyond that. The winter carnival has been in existence for 67 historic years, so we aren't about to stop our activities. However, we'd like to see funds injected quickly, because in rethinking our product and reshaping our business model, if we want to recreate events and big productions that draw crowds—because one day or another, we will have the right to do that again—it takes expertise. We're talking about expertise for programs, but to imagine that big comeback, you also need expertise. We want to remain an attractive product for Canada, and even for Canadians travelling from province to province.

In winter, the carnival is what leads people to discover Quebec City. As you say, Ms. Desbiens, there are also important economic spinoffs in other sectors. That's why we think it's important to have access to money and to have predictability as well.

Other witnesses talked about flexibility. For us, too, it's important presently, but we also need predictability for the future, so that we can invest in this and other appealing products that are major international events.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Thank you for your answer, Ms. Raymond.

With regard to economic spinoffs, do you have any figures that I would call “peripheral”, not only for the capital city, but also for surrounding areas?

[Mélanie Raymond]

Unfortunately not, because all that is measured on our side is the direct economic impact. When we talk about the $16 million in economic spinoffs of the carnival, this is a calculation made according to a restrictive method used by the Quebec Ministry of Tourism. Only people who specifically and mainly came to Quebec City during the carnival period are included.

For example, the benefits generated by people who come first for the Quebec City International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, which overlaps with the carnival, are not calculated. In this case, the spinoffs obviously have multiplier effects. We're talking about Quebec City, but people can come in through Montreal and then spend five to seven days in the Quebec City and Charlevoix region. What we want is to make people discover our destination in winter in a period that is not naturally busy from a tourism point of view.

It's new money and that's what we need.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

What you say is interesting. The $16 million figure is already huge. But it's only direct spinoffs.

I can bear personal witness to this, having seen all those tourists roaming about with arrowhead sashes and carnival icons along the Côte-de-Beaupré to Charlevoix and even to Tadoussac. We see them all winter long. So I want the committee to correctly grasp the importance of the Carnaval de Québec, to apprehend its repercussions on the entire region and all the indirect benefits of this absolutely extraordinary event.

Do I still have some time, Mr. Chair?

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

You have one minute left, Ms. Desbiens.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Good.

Ms. Raymond, regarding the funding you need right now, what would be the best way to give you funds quickly so that you can set up your January programming?

[Mélanie Raymond]

In the immediate term, it would be to have the answers regarding existing programs. The emergency fund also helps a lot, but the extension of the wage subsidy has a critical impact for us. Having the certainty that it would be maintained at 75% would make a huge difference.

[Caroline Desbiens, Bloc, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

The Bloc Québécois insisted that this be increased from 10% to 75%. We are very happy that this helps you.

Thank you very much, Ms. Raymond.

[Mélanie Raymond]

Thank you, Ms. Desbiens.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you very much, Ms. Desbiens and Ms. Raymond.

Now we will have Ms. McPherson for six minutes, please.

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to all of the witnesses for joining us. It's been very interesting. I have a very active family. My children are athletes. Listening to a lot of the testimony and what is at risk is both frightening and enlightening, so thank you.

I have some questions for Ms. Noble and Mr. Roma, but first I want to ask a very quick question of Madame Raymond.

Since I'm from Alberta, obviously my connection to your festival is virtual, or is not in person as often as we would like, but we have our own festival in Edmonton Strathcona. My riding is the francophone heart of Alberta, I guess, and we have the flying canoe, or le canoë volant, in our riding where we actually ride canoes down ski hills. It's an entire festival. I'm just wondering whether or not you have considered sharing the expertise you have. Winter festivals seem to me like a very strong idea during this time. We can be outside and we can be distant and we can wear masks, and all of those things. Have you shared your expertise with other festivals? Do you communicate with other festivals across the country?

[Mélanie Raymond]

In February 2019, during the carnival, we hosted about 20 events from across Canada. They held their events in the region specifically to benefit from our special event. Working in the event market during the winter is a completely different reality. It does exist, but we will have to resume those meetings. The COVID context has obviously changed everything in our business model.