Canadian Heritage Committee on Nov. 5th, 2020

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

That's a very good question. They would have been eligible for some of the measures we have put forward.

We are looking at different things we could do. There are discussions with them about a potential tournament that could happen in the very near future in Canada, obviously in discussion with PHAC and provincial or regional health authorities to ensure that, if we do find ways to have big tournaments, they would be done very safely from a public health perspective.

In terms of direct support, some of the funding you're referring to from the Quebec government is in part the money that the federal government gave to provinces to support their provincial or regional leagues.

Jean-Stéphen, I can't remember if we did something specific for the Canadian Hockey League.

[Jean-Stéphen Piché]

I would have to look into it.

[Hélène Laurendeau]

I don't think we have. I think we assessed it, but I think we haven't done anything specific. We would have to confirm.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

We will get back to you, Mr. Waugh.

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

Thank you.

Mr. Aitchison, it's your time.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Waugh,

Thank you, Minister, for being here.

I have more detailed questions. In part, it's about being new.

I'm wondering about the difference between what's identified in a list of money given out by the ministry. What's the difference between a contribution and a grant? I notice specifically that there are contributions to the Canada periodical fund of almost $2.5 million, and then there are grants to the Canada periodical fund of almost $73 million.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I don't have the definition in front of me, but Jean-Stéphen or Hélène, can you reply?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

A contribution is framed into a contribution agreement, very similar, but not identical, to a form of contract with conditions attached to it.

A grant tends to be closer to a donation, given with fewer strings attached.

In both cases, they are given for a certain purpose, but there is a little more control around a contribution than there is with a grant. It's really two different mechanisms. One is a little more stringent; the other is a little less.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Can I assume, then, that the contributions for the sport support program of almost $180 million and then grants to the athlete assistance program is a similar situation?

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Yes, it is.

The contributions to the sports program are, by and large, done with our provincial partners. Therefore, we want to be a little clearer as to the conditions attached to the expenditure. With respect to the athletes, those grants go directly to them, and we don't know—

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

They go directly to the athletes themselves.

[Hélène Laurendeau]

Exactly. We don't tell them they have to buy their shoes or do whatever with it.

[Scott Aitchison, Conservative, Parry Sound—Muskoka, ON]

Thank you.

I have another quick question.

I also noticed, of course, that the Department of Heritage makes grants to each of the provinces to help defray the costs of the lieutenant-governors. How is it determined how much each province gets? There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason to it.

[Hélène Laurendeau]

You're quite right; there are differences between one province and another. That being said, what the federal government pays is quite small, compared to the expenditure of the running of the offices of the lieutenant-governors.

We pay a very small amount, and the rest is paid by the provinces. The amount we pay is based on the actual salary, if I'm not mistaken, of the lieutenant-governors themselves, and it's limited to that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Scott Simms]

Mr. Aitchison, I apologize. Your time is up.

Mr. Blois, you have five minutes, please.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Minister Guilbeault, it's great to see you. Normally I don't have the pleasure of sitting on this committee, but I'm very pleased to be here today. As a former athlete, I was fortunate to be a draft pick of one of those major junior teams that Mr. Waugh mentioned. I played sport and know it's important to community.

In my riding of Kings-Hants, sport and sport organizations play a critical role. We have a number of top athletes. I'm not as familiar with the programs we've rolled out. Can you explain to me some of the ones that are specific to sports and where we put that emphasis and focus?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Mr. Blois, are you specifically referring to emergency funding or normal ongoing funding?

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

As it relates to COVID-19, first and foremost. If you want to explain some other elements, do so by all means.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Of the $500 million emergency funding we provided to the overall heritage sector, $72 million was earmarked for sports and basically split in half. Half went to national organizations, and the other half was distributed through territories and provinces to support provincial, regional, organizations with which normally Canadian Heritage doesn't really have a relationship.

One thing that was very helpful for provinces with smaller populations is that we allocated that money, not based on population, but based on the number of organizations in the province or the territory, so proportionally, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Yukon got a larger share of that roughly $35 million or $36 million than they would have normally had, because what we were trying to do was keep the sports ecosystem, in place, especially in smaller communities.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

I have a rural riding, so we have a lot of smaller communities where events, festivals and organizations have put on types of community gathering events. Those are really important to our culture and to our ability to bring communities together. That's been more difficult. I understand that; I think your department in some cases was able to recognize and honour some of those existing contribution agreements or grants. Can you speak a little bit about what we've done to try to support those organizations that already had relationships with Canadian Heritage?

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Actually, we honoured all of our agreements with perhaps a few exceptions. Basically, when COVID hit, the decision we took was that we would honour agreements we had with organizations, whether the event or what was supposed to be funded happened or not. If you were doing a music tour, a summer festival or a theatre competition, if it was postponed or cancelled, we told the organization to keep the money and use it wisely. There was no way we were going to pull that money, and those organizations needed the funding, so we were very flexible.

We were also very flexible with the emergency funding; it wasn't attached to specific activities. It was really there to try to help organizations, so, if you were already a recipient of Canadian Heritage, Canada Council for the Arts or Telefilm support, you almost automatically got up to a 25% top-up of what you'd previously received from the federal government. The funding structure was a bit different for organizations that do not normally receive funding from the federal government, but that, in a nutshell, is how we did it.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

I want to be mindful of my time. The last thing I would say is that there has been discussion here today about the importance of CBC and the role it plays. In Nova Scotia, we're no different in terms of that importance.

You mentioned that you've made it very clear that you're the minister responsible but you're not involved in the day-to-day activities of CBC. We recently had a production cut in Halifax that's going to impact programming like Land and Sea and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. From one parliamentarian to another, I know you don't control CBC's operations, but the next time you're speaking with some of the senior leadership of CBC, I hope you'll reinforce the importance of what regionality means to CBC in Atlantic Canada and in Nova Scotia.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

I can't tell them what to do, but I do talk to them from time to time.

[Kody Blois, Liberal, Kings—Hants, NS]

We'd appreciate your just passing that word on, and, again, I know you don't interfere, but as the minister responsible, that message would be lovely.

Thank you so much.

[Steven Guilbeault, Liberal, Laurier—Sainte-Marie, QC]

Your message has been heard.