Canadian Heritage Committee on Oct. 30th, 2020

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

That brings me to my next question.

I appreciate what you're saying about innovative ways of doing things. We have seen these within the museum sector as well: they are now doing tours online and whatnot.

Museums, as you know, have been very hard hit. Will the museums assistance program be expanded to provide long-term funding to make sure that museums can pivot to provide different types of programming, and also to survive the pandemic—particularly those that are not the larger national ones?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

All options are on the table. That's pretty much what I can tell you right now. I am not in a position to tell you specifically whether it will be a redirection or something else, but all options remain on the table.

I would add that the popularity of the museums assistance program in the form we experimented with throughout the emergency funding of phase two is something on that we will go back to the stakeholders on through our survey, once we have finished distributing the funds—which we have just completed—to find out what really worked and what would be of interest for the future.

I mentioned that we have surveyed the recipients for phase one, and we are currently in the process of surveying the recipients for phase two, which would capture the bulk of the recipients of the emergency funding through the museums assistance program.

You're quite right. A lot of very interesting innovation has occurred on that front that also supports....

[Heather McPherson, NDP, Edmonton Strathcona, AB]

Thank you so much.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Ms. McPherson.

We're now into our second round.

I believe Mr. Shields is in the room.

You have five minutes, please.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Thank you.

This is the second round. I'm assuming that will be all. Do we have time for a third round?

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

I suspect not, given the time constraints.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I will, then, split my time with Mr. Waugh.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Do you want two and a half minutes each, or would you like to hand it to him yourself?

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

I will do two and a half minutes, and I'm going to go quickly.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Very good.

[Martin Shields, Conservative, Bow River, AB]

Deputy Minister, it's great to see you.

I'm going to go quickly. I'm looking for some answers to questions that you can probably respond to later.

When you do later surveys on the building communities through arts and heritage program to find out what happened with the money, do you find that it basically just kept organizations alive, such as executive directors? Did it just keep the organizations alive, or where did the money go? In your follow-up, I hope you can find that information and are able to communicate that if the goal was to keep organizations alive, where did the money go? It would be great to find that out.

In regard to the Canada Council for the Arts, in the last Parliament a study was done, led by our colleague from Edmonton Centre, on where funds went in Canada. This is under Canadian Heritage. In Alberta, 50% less funding came in, under that study, which we ended. I would like to see, under this one, where the money went by province. I'm looking to you to supply that information for us.

The last question concerns funding streamed to arrest harms to local news production. This has been brought up, to some extent, by my colleague here in the room.

My print publication people tell me that if the government were to spend money in the print area rather than the digital, they could survive. Of the $22.5 million, then, did it all go to print, or did the government spend money on social media and not print?

Those are the three questions I have for you. I'm sure you're going to have to go to find the answers somewhere else, but I would surely love to have them.

I really appreciate your being here. You are a good person whom we've had in our committees over the year, and we really appreciate your contribution to this heritage committee.

Thanks.

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Thank you for those three questions.

We have elements of answers. For the sake of time, I will ask Jean-Stéphen to cover the elements we have at our fingertips. We will undertake to provide you with what we can based on whatever we're not able to answer right away.

With your permission, I will turn to Monsieur Piché.

[Jean-Stéphen Piché]

On the first question, on BCTAH specifically—and this applies to all programs—we had very specific eligible costs, which could not derive much support from the regular programs of the department. These costs are not so much for administration as for fixed costs that the organizations needed to keep themselves alive. We can send you a list of our coverage of costs within that program. We'd be more than happy to do so.

Concerning representation, we can also send you the CCA representation breakdown by province, which is information that we have. I can't attest to the decline or rise, but around 6% or 7% of the funding from the Canada Council is attributed to Alberta.

I will caution on the overall numbers around representation. We could have a discussion just on that, but I will endeavour to find you the information.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Piché. I have to cut it there.

Mr. Waugh, you have two and a half minutes.

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I want to thank the departmental officials for coming, and for getting the money out as soon as you could. We still have $18 million to send out in the next two months.

The first event that was cancelled was the Juno awards in my city, Saskatoon. March 15, a Sunday, was supposed to be the day for the Junos, and then everything collapsed on March 13.

The city lost more than $9 million because it couldn't host the Junos. How is it going to recoup this money? It had put in over a year and a half of organization to host the Junos, and then the rug was pulled on the Friday night from this event.

I guess that question would go to the deputy minister.

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Thank you.

That is testament to the brutality of what happened when the pandemic came about.

To be perfectly clear, we do not offset lost revenue of that nature, at least not in the current state.

Are taking into consideration the recovery of costs that we have provided for various activities? We are. The department, however, does not directly fund the Junos per se, so those costs would not be captured in what we would be able to offset.

Jean-Stéphen, you know that system a bit better than I do. Is there anything else you want to add?

What you're describing is true of other activities that happened and of the brutality of the impact that was felt all across the arts and live music sectors and other endeavours of that nature. There were also sports events that suffered the same or a similar impact, particularly events that were in preparation for the Olympics that didn't happen. We don't have a contribution agreement to offset those impacts, at this stage.

Jean-Stéphen, do you want to add something very briefly, because time is of the essence?

[Jean-Stéphen Piché]

Yes. Thank you.

What has happened is absolutely tragic. Many festivals and cultural events were cancelled. There has been revenue loss across the board.

That is why a fund such as the music fund—the regular fund, $36 million—was advanced early in the pandemic to help organizations and the industry itself find ways to address some of those issues. From ESF, the emergency funds, $32.6 million was given to the music fund, including to studios and also the live music environment, which as a grouping has at least helped keep that industry going.

That is not going to replace the losses for the event that was supposed to take place in your city, but we're trying to find ways to compensate through the support we give to the industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you, Mr. Piché.

Madame Bessette is next, for five minutes, please.

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

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I want to thank the witnesses for joining us and for their presentations.

As an athlete, I know the importance of a healthy lifestyle. I've been fortunate enough to participate in the Olympics. I know that many Canadians train daily to compete at high levels. As a result of the pandemic, many events have been cancelled. Despite this situation beyond our control, several organizations have been able to demonstrate innovation in hundreds of communities across Canada.

In my constituency of Brome—Missisquoi, the equestrian sports community has shown creativity in doing so. A four-star Olympic-level qualifying event was held this fall in full compliance with health measures. The equestrian community pulled together from coast to coast to hold the event. We must acknowledge the community's excellent work in terms of social distancing measures. The whole event was broadcast. This success story couldn't have happened without the government's support.

Ms. Laurendeau, can you tell us how Olympic organizations have been affected and how your department supports Canadian Olympic athletes?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Thank you, Ms. Bessette.

You're addressing a very important issue. Mr. Dendooven can get the figures for you while I respond. Our emergency funding for amateur sports served the same purpose as the funding for the arts, culture and heritage. To put it plainly, a percentage of the emergency funding was given to organizations. This funding was also allocated to sports organizations through our usual mechanisms and partners, such as the federations or the provinces we work with to distribute the money.

We also increased funding for the athlete assistance program. As you so rightly pointed out, the work of Olympic athletes is the work of a lifetime, which culminates in an Olympic year. The pandemic struck when these athletes were at their peak. The postponement by one year has resulted in a double cohort. We couldn't start separating the wheat from the chaff by telling the people who missed the Olympics that they could continue, but the people who hoped to reach the Olympic level that they would pay the price.

We increased the funding for athlete assistance to take into account the additional constraints caused by the pandemic.

In terms of amateur sports, we wanted to maintain and even increase the funding to ensure the sustainability of the organizations, once again. That way, when things pick up again, everyone will be ready to continue.

Mr. Dendooven, were you able to find the total amount of funding for athlete assistance?

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

In the meantime, perhaps I could ask another question. I had four questions, but I'll ask you the last one, because it concerns a matter close to my heart.

The World Anti-Doping Agency is responsible for the World Anti-Doping Code, which was updated in 2020. The new code will come into force on January 1, 2021.

Is the current pandemic slowing down the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport's process of updating the policies to ensure that they reflect the new international framework?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

I'll need to provide a written response regarding this matter. I don't think so, but I don't want to mislead you. I'll send a written response to the committee.

[David Dendooven, Assistant Deputy Minister, Strategic Policy and Corporate Affairs, Department of Canadian Heritage]

Mr. Chair, I can report that we allocated $72 million to sports.

As the deputy minister noted, the purpose of this funding is to help athletes and also sports organizations across the country, including the Canadian Olympic Committee, cover the costs associated with the postponement of the Olympic Games.

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

Perfect. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Thank you.

Mr. Champoux, you have the floor for two minutes and 30 seconds.