Canadian Heritage Committee on Feb. 2nd, 2022

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Lewis, I'll ask you the same question. I don't know if you want to build upon your earlier answers in regard to additional supports.

[John Lewis]

No, I agree. Employers make major investments in this industry, and it's a risky industry at the best of times. There has to be some form of insurance to provide some necessary support.

May I just say, too, that the federal government has been largely carrying the water on this, as well. With the exception of Quebec, because Quebec did introduce a ticket subsidy program, the provinces have really sat idly by and allowed the federal government to carry the load here, and that's shameful. That's something we're focusing on as we speak to your provincial counterparts. This is not just for the federal government to carry forward, but it's in co-operation and conjunction with the provincial governments as well.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Thank you so much. That's probably at or near the end of my time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

You have 30 seconds, Mr. Bittle.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

I have 30 seconds. Thank you so much.

I don't know that I can get a question and answer in in that period of time so I will ramble for the last few seconds and just say thank you to everyone who's here and for the work you're doing. I hope that we can be there and continue to be there for the industry.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you, Mr. Bittle.

I can then move now to Mr. Champoux for two and a half minutes.

[Martin Champoux, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

I would now like to turn to Mr. Julien.

Mr. Julien, earlier you heard Mr. Roy, who represents RÉMI and FAME, talk about the importance of the 2019‑20 investments and the need to make them permanent.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Madam Chair, I have a point of order. Sorry, Mr. Champoux.

The speaking order is supposed to go from a Conservative to a Liberal, each having five minutes, and then back to a Conservative for five minutes.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

I think we just did that. Mr. Waugh spoke in that round and then Ms. Lewis spoke, and then Mr. Coteau and then—

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Perhaps we could seek some clarity from the clerk.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Could the clerk give us the list, please?

[The Clerk]

Madam Chair, if you look at the sheet, at the start of the third round it will be Ms. Thomas, Mr. Bittle splitting with Mr. Lewis, Mr. Champoux and Mr. Julian, and that will probably bring us to the end of the meeting.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

The NDP and the Bloc do not have any rounds at all in the third round. Is my understanding correct?

[The Clerk]

Madam Chair, it will be Ms. Thomas for five minutes, Mr. Bittle and Mr. Lewis for five minutes, Mr. Champoux and Mr. Julian.

The only edit on the sheet for the third round will be that Ms. Thomas will be taking the place of Ms. Lewis.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you.

Who will be taking the place of Mr. Bittle? Mr. Louis?

[The Clerk]

Mr. Bittle and Mr. Louis are splitting the time, and Mr. Bittle had his round in the second round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Hedy Fry]

Thank you. I'm so sorry.

Let us go to Mrs. Thomas for five minutes.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

My first question will be directed to Alex.

Mr. Mustakas, one of the comments you made in your opening remarks was with regard to the benefits that were handed out to help cover the cost of rent. You said that when a building is owned, it makes it rather difficult because there's no benefit available for that. Could you comment on that a little further?

You mentioned the value of having an asset, having a building. Obviously that's something you should be proud of and something you should want to keep, but it would appear that those industries, businesses or organizations that have buildings were penalized because of that. They weren't given any sort of support to pay their mortgage.

Perhaps you could comment on that further in terms of what the need is in that regard.

[Dr. Alex Mustakas]

Absolutely.

We're a prime example. We operate seven venues around the province. We rent some facilities as well. We were able to receive rent subsidy for the ones that we rent, but we still had to carry the load for all our own venues.

I've heard many times that the pandemic is going to destroy small theatre companies, but we also have to look at the ones that operate seven venues. Without putting a key in the door, it costs you a million dollars a year in utilities and so on, so any assistance there would certainly help.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Thank you.

In terms of your overall operations, were there any innovative practices that were taken on to help come through the pandemic on top, whether that was innovation in terms of the way that you fundraise, innovation in terms of the shows you put on or using technology in creative ways? Maybe you could highlight some of those adaptive technologies that were put to use.

[Dr. Alex Mustakas]

Our organization is the exception to the rule. We receive no operating funds from any arts council or level of government. We have received some capital grants and so on. It made it doubly hard for us. We reached out to our stakeholders and our audience. We held one very successful campaign, an online fifty-fifty. In a year we brought in over $800,000 that helped sustain us. That showed proof of commitment by our stakeholders who want us to survive, who want us to come back.

Someone mentioned earlier about online activity. Back in late 2020, we created online, 10-week, hour-long episodes to stay connected with our audience. The first one was free. I think we had about 5,000 viewers per episode. This week we just launched a sequel to it, but this time we're charging $15. Unfortunately, it dropped to 500 subscribers from the 5,000 who accepted it for free.

We have tried innovative ways to stay connected. Other than as a lifeline to our operations, I'm really worried about behaviour changing, pattern of behaviour changing and losing stakeholders who have been with us for 30 years.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Mr. Mustakas, on that note, talking about behaviour and engagement from audience members, individuals who would come and watch shows, provincial and federal governments have put various mandates in place, and there have been promises made. Definitely the messaging out there at all levels of government has very much been to get vaccinated once, get vaccinated twice, now get vaccinated three times and life will get back to normal. Obviously that has instilled hope, and then it's been disparaged immediately following. It's gone back and forth like this for quite some time.

For those individuals who are looking forward to coming back to theatre and for those individuals whom you work with within your company, what impact has this had on their mental health and well-being? I'm not talking about the pandemic per se. I'm talking about the promises and then the reneging on the promises.

[Dr. Alex Mustakas]

It has been very difficult. For most of us on this call who are arts activity leaders, they look to us for support. They look to us for all the answers, and it's probably the first time in our careers that we don't have all the answers.

We try to maintain as much hope as possible, so we look forward to an opening only to be dashed with it closing again. The consistency isn't there. I understand it to some extent, but I truly believe that we have to align the messaging, for not only our own staff and our arts workers, but our audiences as well.

[Rachael Thomas, Conservative, Lethbridge, AB]

Yes. If you could put one request forward to the government in that regard in terms of consistency and anticipation going forward, what would it be?

[Dr. Alex Mustakas]

I would say it's the message that has to come from all our elected representatives and their communities, which is that we need to maintain arts and culture in our communities.

I will say that arts organizations have a proud history and a proven track record for providing an excellent return on investment. I encourage the government to keep investing in our sector, because at the end of the day we need both sides of the brain, and we need the creative sector. It touches everything we do.