Canadian Heritage Committee on Dec. 4th, 2020

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I now call to order this meeting of Friday, December 4, for Canadian Heritage. Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on October 23, the committee resumes its study on the challenges and issues faced by the arts, culture, heritage and sports sectors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today we have two rounds of witnesses. I'd like to remind everyone that when you are not speaking or not recognized by the chair, please put your microphones on mute, and when you're asking a question, please ask our witnesses directly.

Before we get to that, we're going to extend five minutes each to our witnesses. Our first witnesses are Mike Roma, president, and Cathy Jo Noble, chief executive officer, of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association.

Following that, we have Mélanie Raymond, general director of Carnaval de Québec, and David Shoemaker, chief executive officer and secretary general of the Canadian Olympic Committee.

We're going to start with the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association. Mike and Cathy, you have five minutes. I'm not sure which one of you is going first or which one would like to speak.

[Cathy Jo Noble, Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Parks and Recreation Association]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I'll start.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Go ahead, for up to five minutes.

[Cathy Jo Noble]

Good afternoon, everyone, and happy Friday. On behalf of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association, thank you for inviting us to share with you the impacts COVID-19 has had on the parks and recreation service, and how together we can face that challenge.

CPRA is the national voice for municipal parks and recreation. We're the playgrounds, the arenas and the bike trails in your community. We're also the yoga classes, swimming lessons, summer camps and soccer leagues that you and your family participate in. Our impact is felt by Canadians day after day. We're not a single event, but the places and spaces where events take place.

Public recreation provides a fundamental service to communities, especially the most vulnerable. Our services are a direct link to return normalcy, health, wellness and connection back to Canadians.

When the pandemic struck Canada, public recreation facilities and programs were shuttered, and the vast majority of them have not returned to full service. The result was an immediate disappearance of crucial services for children, seniors, families and at-risk Canadians to ensure their physical, mental and social health. For example, work-from-home parents no longer had summer camp or sports programs for their children. Seniors no longer had community drop-in centres and youth at risk no longer had their weekly sports program.

Municipal parks and green spaces have become essential for Canadians for safe exercise and socialization during the pandemic, and spaces that are normally used for recreation have been transformed into COVID-19 testing centres, overflow shelters for the homeless and standby field hospitals.

Parks and recreation service providers are working hard every day to return community sports and recreation to Canadians. However, the challenges of facilities closing and reopening, trying to keep up with ever-changing regulations and dealing with frustrated Canadians who want to be active but can't are taking a toll on parks and recreation service providers.

[Mike Roma, President, Canadian Parks and Recreation Association]

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thanks for the airtime today.

As governments continue to unfold a restart strategy, it's essential to recognize the critical role that community sport, parks and recreation play. Equitable access to public recreation programs and facilities is fundamental to Canadians, especially for the most vulnerable in our society. It must be understood that the social costs that will result without the full return of these services are profound. Recreation leads to healthier people and more connected communities.

The economic contributions that municipal parks and recreation make have been absent throughout the pandemic, from youth employment to sport tourism to program user fees. Further, Canada's economic recovery relies heavily on the productivity of parents, who require safe and secure child care, camps and programs for their children or day programming for their aging family members.

The challenges of returning community sport and recreation are significant. Municipal systems are struggling to return to the same level under new operating conditions, with some communities facing such severe financial challenges that they're actually closing pools and arenas, some permanently, despite being able to have them open as regulations allow.

Government funding announced to date is well-intentioned but is not accessible to our sector. For example, municipalities do not qualify for the Canada emergency wage subsidy. Returning to a full staff complement for a restart will thus be difficult and costly. The government provided $72 million in funding for sport to support national sport organizations to prepare for the return to play, but the return to play cannot happen without the facilities and spaces that we provide.

The government reallocated existing infrastructure funds via a COVID-19 resilience stream, but this is not new funding, and there remains a significant infrastructure gap left unaddressed. Municipalities will continue to face the same difficult decisions on how to allocate infrastructure funds that do not equate to the magnitude of the infrastructure needs in our communities.

The government recently announced the Canada healthy communities initiative, which will provide $31 million to communities to make needed adaptations to spaces as a consequence of COVID. This is an excellent initiative, but we call upon the government to provide significantly more dollars, as $31 million will not even begin to meet the demand.

Our sector has come forward with two requests of the federal government to help return community sport, parks and recreation services to Canadians.

The first is that we call upon the federal government to create a community sport and recreation recovery fund to support the full return of recreation and sport programs across Canadian communities. A multi-year burst of funding will ensure that community sport, parks and recreation services can be returned to the most vulnerable in our society and that rural communities are not left without these fundamental services as a legacy of the pandemic.

This is not an infrastructure funding program. Instead, it is for activities such as promoting and destigmatizing the return to community sport and recreation, adapting recreation and sport programming, supporting practitioners and volunteers to adapt to post-pandemic realities and ensuring that our services are still able to support the most vulnerable in our society.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Mr. Roma, thank you so much. I'm sorry, but I have to be very cognizant of time here, and that's your five minutes.

Mrs. Raymond, you have the floor for five minutes.

[Mélanie Raymond, General Director, Carnaval de Québec]

Good afternoon.

Thank you for the invitation.

In 1954, the Quebec Winter Carnival's founders created the event with two very specific objectives in mind: to cure the winter blues and to stimulate the local economy. Those two necessities are still written into the Carnival's DNA, because 67 years later, the current crisis has plunged us into a very similar situation.

The internationally recognized Quebec Winter Carnival secures Canada's reputation as a welcoming destination. It's a must during the winter both for Canadians and for international tourists. The festival has grown and now generates $16 million in economic spinoffs, in addition to creating 254 permanent jobs.

Despite the extremely challenging situation we are in right now, our organization continues to play its community role. In fact, in response to the current crisis, we chose to hold Carnival events on Quebec City's main streets and to turn our iconic Effigy, traditionally worn as the festival pass, into an incentive to buy local. Given the situation, our decision makes a lot of sense. We are working together for the greater good.

When we invest in events, we invest in our communities. Festivals and events have an enormous leveraging effect. I would like to take the opportunity today to share with you some concrete solutions that will help us weather the storm and then contribute to the economic recovery.

First of all, I would like to thank the government for the enhancements to the emergency wage subsidy. This emergency assistance has made, and continues to make, a huge difference to our organization. It has helped us to keep essential resources in place for our day-to-day operations, to transform our product and to plan our recovery.

It is our fervent wish that it be maintained at its current level for the duration of the crisis. Please keep in mind that our organization is seasonal in nature. Eligibility guidelines must be tailored to our reality in order to secure our access to funding and preserve this expertise within our industry.

A number of event producers are in dire straits. Most of us are not-for-profit organizations, so we don't have a lot of savings or equity. Going into debt is not a option. Direct support is the best way to keep our organizations alive and quickly absorb the economic impact of COVID for an effective recovery.

We are encouraged to see that funding has been renewed for the building communities through arts and heritage program at the same levels as for the past few years. To maximize the program's reach, we are asking for flexibility. For example, our digital and virtual content development initiatives have to be eligible and hybrid programming must be allowed.

Although our industry is known for being agile, innovative and creative, we have all been deeply affected by the current crisis. It has stunted our growth. We have a long-term vision to continue to play our role as an economic driver that's essential in the ecosystem of our communities. It's therefore imperative that this program's budget be sustained well beyond 2022.

I reiterate that we must be seen as a driver of the economy, of tourism, and of social and cultural activities. Investing in us carries multiple benefits, because the Carnival generates tax revenues of $1 million for the federal government and $2 million for the provincial government.

I personally remain very optimistic for the future, because our festivals' basic ingredients for success are meeting the demonstrated common need to celebrate our cultural heritage together and keep our festive spirit alive.

To foster a rapid recovery, new capital must be injected into our organizations. That is why we would like to see a new program to attract more tourists and therefore more new money, similar to the marquee tourism events program in 2009. It's important to note that 72% of the money spent at our event comes from visitors from outside Quebec.

The Quebec Winter Carnival is a fine example of tourism-generated economic growth. It is a strategic tourist asset. We need to work together to make the Carnival even more attractive in order to cement the status of Quebec City and of Canada as winter tourism destinations on the international stage.

I will end by telling you what I feel remains our most important impact: our social impact. In my opinion, we are an essential service for individual and public health. Artisans, performing artists, workers, volunteers, producers and broadcasters can all count on the contribution from the events community.

Preserving that ecosystem is essential if we want to bounce back quickly and rekindle that community spirit. It was that very same community spirit from which the first Quebec Winter Carnival was born 67 years ago, bringing about the success for which it has been known ever since.

Thank you, everyone.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Merci beaucoup, Madame.

Mr. Shoemaker, the floor is yours. You have up to five minutes, please.

[David Shoemaker, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General, Canadian Olympic Committee]

Thank you.

The mission of the Canadian Olympic Committee is, in its simplest expression, to do everything we can to put Canadian athletes atop the Olympic podium.

The COC itself is privately funded by 27 marketing partnerships, including some of the most prominent Canadian businesses—RBC, Hudson's Bay, Bell and Canadian Tire. Those partnerships are intact. We are, generally speaking, weathering the pandemic, but we are also an umbrella organization of 62 national sports organizations—big ones like Soccer Canada, Curling Canada and Swimming Canada, and smaller ones like Rowing Canada and Luge Canada—and these NSOs are generally not weathering the pandemic. They are funded in large part by government and from club fees. With participation levels at near nil, many NSOs are in peril and the Canadian sport system is in near crisis.

Also in crisis is our nation's relationship with sport. Once one of the more sporting nations in the world, the pandemic has accelerated a decline in sport and physical activity across Canada. With facilities closed since March all across the country, Canadians have sunk further into a sedentary lifestyle, which is all but certain to bring about a wave of physical and mental wellness challenges unless tackled head-on.

Fortunately, if we reintroduce Canadians to sport, the results can be dramatic. Sport has long been understood as a powerful tool for building healthy and inclusive communities. It can deliver on our national priorities of promoting health and wellness, fostering safe communities, improving education outcomes, stimulating economic activity and assisting with the social and cultural integration of new Canadians. Sport can and should underpin our national recovery.

Now, describing where we are is not simple. The impact of the pandemic on the sport system is varied, just like the sports themselves, but in almost every case, the needs are considerable, and there are some key themes.

The first theme is flexibility. Many NSOs need budgetary flexibility. Critical relief funding has been delivered—thank you very much—but with their activities still largely stopped, they need government flexibility to spend money later and for different purposes. We're working on that.

The second theme is training environments. Many NSOs need a safe daily training environment. With pools, clubs, gyms and other athletic facilities largely closed, most national athletes have been struggling to find safe ways to train. We've been working on that too.

Next is major events. Many NSOs need to stage events or they won't survive. These include Curling Canada, Soccer Canada and Freestyle Canada, just to name a few. Despite Tennis Canada's best efforts, their signature Rogers Cup events were cancelled in 2020, forcing them to incur a $31-million loss, causing deep cuts to their programs and a 40% reduction in staff. This in turn will decimate their efforts to develop tennis in the years to come.

The last theme is memberships. Many NSOs have lost their members. Many of them, such as Gymnastics Canada and Skate Canada, rely on membership fees across the country. With clubs closed, these revenues have dried up.

Here's the rub. Where we can, we're working hard with Sport Canada to address our high-performance needs, but these organizations are not just responsible for identifying elite Olympic talent; they have responsibility for growing their sport and an entire continuum, a pathway from, as we say, the playground to the podium. It is the beginning of the pathway that warrants attention. Even before the pandemic, NSOs on average devoted only 12% of their budgets to developing their sports—to the grassroots, to getting younger athletes engaged, to introducing them and exposing them to rules and coaching and broadening the base of participants. To recover from the pandemic, we need to reintroduce Canadians to sport through real investment in these NSOs.

My remarks before this committee today can't do justice to the nuanced needs of the sport sector, but I'd like to frame two needs in two areas of focus. One is to enhance emergency funding available to sport organizations and athletes under financial duress in order to manage through the challenges of the pandemic. The second is to make a $50-million increase in annual funding to the sport system to address long-term need and reintroduce Canadians to sport at the grassroots and community level.

We're not alone in facing this challenge. We have seen others, with New Zealand as a prime example, implement significant investments in supporting their sport systems and linking sport to overall wellness and economic recovery. Just this week the United Nations passed a motion encouraging member nations “to include sport and physical activity in their recovery plans post COVID-19”.

The sport industry contributes roughly $6.6 billion annually to Canada's GDP and supports roughly 118,000 jobs, but the real impact of sport extends exponentially beyond these numbers. It contributes to the physical, mental and social wellness of our communities. As we build healthy and inclusive communities, so too are we building the foundation for our economic recovery.

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Shoemaker.

“From playground to podium”—that's nice. Very good.

We now begin the first round of questions with Mr. Godin of the Conservative Party, for six minutes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'm pleased to be with you today. I don't usually sit on this committee, but your witness is an organization that I know well, from Quebec's beautiful national capital region. I have some specific questions for the General Director of the Quebec Winter Carnival, Mrs. Raymond. In my opinion, the Carnival is the world's largest winter festival. That has to be said. Let me use this forum to declare it.

My thanks to Mrs. Raymond and to all the other witnesses for taking part in this exercise. The purpose of this study is to understand, and to find ways to help you even more. As you so rightly said, it's very important socially and economically. The event was originally created in Quebec's national capital specifically to spur economic recovery and cure the winter blues. In light of what we are currently experiencing, we know that the event directly delivers what our community needs. That's why I say, well done.

Mrs. Raymond, my first question will be very short, because you know that our time is limited. How much money do you receive from the federal government?

[Mélanie Raymond]

Thank you for the question, Mr. Godin.

Although the Quebec Winter Carnival is less than three months away, not everything has been confirmed yet. We have had a response from the Department of Canadian Heritage's emergency support fund for cultural, heritage and sport organizations. We have heard from Economic Development Canada, or EDC, from which we receive a three-year grant. Normally, out of a total budget of $9.3 million, we receive just over $700,000 from the federal government and just over $2 million from the provincial government.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

You are still waiting on funding in this pandemic situation. I know that you recently released your festival program. You announced that the parade is cancelled this year and that you will be decentralizing so you do not encourage gatherings. I feel you are following public health guidelines.

As of today, you have yet to receive a final response from the federal government. It must be hard to manage your budgets. Furthermore, I've learned that you will not be selling effigies and that people will not need them to gain access to the site. So you will lose effigy sales and parade sponsorship revenue, when the parade is the festival's main attraction.

Given that situation, how are you going to make the event happen?

[Mélanie Raymond]

Our total budget has decreased by 25%, given the current context. We are very cautious because, as I mentioned earlier, 72% of the money spent at our event comes from tourists from abroad. Since the borders are closed, we will only have local tourism. So we will only get tourists from neighbouring provinces. We have been very cautious in our forecasts because holding an outdoor event in the winter means that we can't know what most of our costs will be before the festival starts. We don't have a crystal ball to predict how much snow, freezing rain or rain we will have to deal with, as we do every year.

Not only has the pandemic made us more cautious, but it has also taken us back to our roots, that is, why our event came to be. It was to stimulate the economy. Officials both from the Institut national de santé publique du Québec and from Quebec City have therefore approved our request to hold events in various neighbourhoods. We are very well supported, but we really wanted to make a community effort to bring us closer to the businesses.

However, we are not going to kid ourselves. The number of artists we hire this year will obviously be different, since the Carnival normally takes on 600 artists every year. Given the current context, we can't hire as many.

As far as private funding goes, the Quebec Winter Carnival has had very loyal partners for more than 20 years, and most private investors are still with us. Even given COVID-19, we even welcomed a new major partner, Scotiabank, which has invested over $100,000, which is extraordinary and very welcome news. In terms of federal funding, to be more specific, we get a three-year EDC grant for the Quebec regions. So our grant has already been confirmed with EDC. That's the largest grant the Carnival receives.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

I understand that.

[Mélanie Raymond]

We're cautious with our forecasts.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

It's good to be “conservative”.

Madam General Director, I'd also like to know how many Quebec Winter Carnival events are held in the Quebec City area.

Is the number the same as for other events across Canada? Is it equal to, or larger or smaller than, the average number for organizations holding these types of events in Canada?

[Mélanie Raymond]

Actually, it depends on the programs. That would be the most cautious answer I can give you.

Some programs have criteria that give musical events an advantage over events like ours. Ours is a very traditional event, but it's also multi-faceted. It's as much about ice sculpture as circus performers or—

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Let me stop you there, Mrs. Raymond.

You spoke of flexibility in your opening remarks.

[Mélanie Raymond]

Yes.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

What would you need to become more flexible and give you tools to become even more creative? Goodness knows, in 2020, you need to be.

[Mélanie Raymond]

Thank you, Mr. Godin. I'm sorry, I misunderstood the question.

The important thing is really that we adapt our programming to create a digital, virtual or even hybrid format. Although we did announce that the Carnival was happening physically this year, part of our programming will take place online, since we can't generate large gatherings.

Each event experiences and does things differently. We have the opportunity to transform ours so that it can still play out on the ground and include a live portion. However, programs must embrace that distinction if we want to produce artists virtually or develop digital content with other types of artists who are not usually part of our programming.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mrs. Raymond.

[Joël Godin, Conservative, Portneuf—Jacques-Cartier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I'd like to thank the general director of the Quebec Winter Carnival.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you very much, everyone.

Speaking of podium, for our next question we're going to be splitting the time. I guess we're going to go atop the podium for the next two.

Mrs. Bessette, you have the floor for three minutes.