Evidence of meeting #75 for Environment and Sustainable Development in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was preservation.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5:05 p.m.
Partner, York Heritage Properties
Yes, but I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for the honour of addressing this committee and to invite anybody who would like to tour any of the carefully restored older buildings that York Heritage Properties has been involved with. You are all welcome. You have my email address, I am sure, and I would be delighted to show you how historical buildings work in the community.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Can you take one more question, or do you really have to leave? It's a very quick question.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Mr. Eisenberg, thank you so much for being here today.
I wonder, of the properties that you do have, are any of them rural properties? Were there any specific challenges on the rural side, or is it just that you don't see them as being financially commercially viable to develop?
5:05 p.m.
Partner, York Heritage Properties
It has nothing to do with commercial viability. We just stick to our knitting. We know Toronto really well, and our particular ability is to know our customers.
I've tried building in other communities. I've tried building in Dallas, Naples, and other communities. Frankly, we're just outclassed. I tried building in Lively, Ontario, and the local people know so much more about the local conditions that we've just stuck to downtown Toronto, I'm afraid—so I can't really give you very much insight on that matter.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Thank you.
I don't know if Mr. Archambault would also like to add to that question.
5:05 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Hold on a minute, because I know Mr. Eisenberg has to go.
I just want to thank you very much for taking your precious time to come and share your experience with us.
I also want to make a comment on what you mentioned about the funding or financing of elections. I was a regional councillor in Vaughan, and I experienced losing my seat through a very competitive, nasty race. Of course, I have the opportunity to be up here now, so sometimes there's a silver lining in some of that. But you're absolutely right, we need to level that playing field. I appreciate your wisdom there.
We'll let you go, because I know you need to run, and we'll carry on with the questioning.
Sorry, Mike. We have the clock. We didn't take your time.
Go ahead.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, The Canadian Heritage of Quebec
Could you rephrase the question?
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Of course. I just wondered if any of the properties that you manage, that you've rebuilt, whether they were rural properties, and what unique challenges you might have experienced in developing the rural properties, or the commercial viability...or whatever challenges that might have existed.
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, The Canadian Heritage of Quebec
Canadian Heritage of Quebec has properties from Montreal to Percé. Getting to Percé from Montreal is a 12-hour drive non-stop. Percé is at the far end of Quebec. The challenges vary. In some cases, the situation is easier in the regions because the craftsmen are there and are very knowledgeable. It is possible to work with people who are professionals, but who do not work for large firms, where resources and professional advice are much more expensive.
However, remoteness is an issue. We have restoration projects in Percé. I'm going to go there next week for a work weekend. If I stop twice for 15 minutes and once for 30 minutes, the trip will take me 13 hours. In addition, when the people doing the work call us and tell us they have a problem, we have to visualize it on the phone in order to give them the appropriate instructions. I cannot be on the ground.
We also have to train and supervise the craftsmen. We work with an architect on contract. We have a site meeting—in this case, in Percé—and we explain, with a plan or drawings, how to build a roof with cedar shingles or eaves, for example. It could happen, as it did recently, that, after several days, the person calls me back to tell me that, in the end, they did not understand my sketch. That is the sort of challenge we have to deal with.
Furthermore, we received a grant to restore a mill in the Éboulements region near Baie-Saint-Paul. It's a five-hour drive from Montreal. Since it was a grant, the contractor we chose was the lowest bidder. They had no training in heritage. We had to train them. One day, after a week or two of work, we went to the construction site and realized that they had not done the job properly. Their instincts about the way of doing things were contemporary, not geared toward heritage.
Remoteness is a challenge, but working in urban areas is much more expensive than in the regions, where the availability of craftsmen is a major factor. However, the building standards are the same across Quebec.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Mike Bossio Liberal Hastings—Lennox and Addington, ON
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize. The only reason I went first was because—
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
Darren Fisher Liberal Dartmouth—Cole Harbour, NS
I was just going to ask him what the incentive was.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Mr. Archambault, do you think the federal government should create a category of funding for heritage property infrastructure?
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, The Canadian Heritage of Quebec
I want to make sure I understand exactly what you mean by “infrastructure”. Often, in Quebec, the word “infrastructure” is used to refer to bridges and roads, for example.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
As part of the discussions on public infrastructure, the federal and provincial governments talk about bridges, public transportation, and so on.
5:10 p.m.
Liberal
William Amos Liberal Pontiac, QC
Would it be good for our heritage if a category was created for that purpose?
5:10 p.m.
Executive Director, The Canadian Heritage of Quebec
Absolutely, that would be a good thing. As I mentioned earlier, experience and time have demonstrated that it is recommended, at both federal and provincial levels, to give heritage a status of its own, both horizontally across departments and in terms of infrastructure. It is a very specific field, which cannot be indiscriminately mixed with regular construction. Creating a status, a particular category, would be very helpful.
5:15 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Deb Schulte
Thank you very much, Mr. Brown and Mr. Archambault. It's been a really excellent panel. We appreciate your time.
You've heard a bit of the questioning. You may be thinking that there was a question you wanted to answer, but you didn't have the opportunity to do so, and if you would be willing to share with us any additional thoughts, we would be really happy to receive them. It is a short study. We're going to get into writing the report next week, so if you have something, getting it sooner rather than later would be very much appreciated. Thanks to both of you.
Before I finish the meeting, I have two administrative items.
Thanks very much to everybody who came to the commissioner's tabling of her reports this morning. We have copies of those. If you didn't pick any up and you want to get some, we have them here for you.
On Thursday we're having two meetings. One is our regular committee meeting. We have only one witness from the group that we thought would be our panel, so we have invited the parks department to come back to help answer some questions. Lisa Prosper is coming and, from Parks Canada, Genevieve Charrois and Norman Shields are coming back to be available on Thursday.
Then, depending on the timing—we have that panel and we have report-writing—we were thinking of splitting the time for the witnesses and then the report-writing instructions. We have a subcommittee meeting in the afternoon, but we may be able to fit it in that morning. We'll see.
The bells are now ringing, so I will end the meeting.
Thanks to both of you for joining us today.
The meeting is adjourned.
