Evidence of meeting #13 for Government Operations and Estimates in the 39th Parliament, 2nd session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was witnesses.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
We analyzed the existing historic buildings preservation programs, and it's a fairly sad story.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
I know. In my riding, we were led to believe we might be able to obtain funding from the program. According to the information we had, the funding had been exhausted.
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
Perhaps we could talk later on about the details of the buildings you referred to.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Yes, please.
If we summarize your recommendations, we should evaluate a building's symbolic value before selling it.
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
Yes. We should try to keep these buildings in the federal inventory.
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
All right. As my colleague Mr. Angus said, if we decided to restore the fund, in the event it would cost less to demolish a building than to rebuild it, could we allocate 20%, for example, based on the cultural value of that asset? However, there's still no act.
Do you have any recommendations for the purpose of developing a bill?
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
There's a draft bill at Parks Canada.
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
It's there, but it still has to be developed.
Bloc
Bloc
Meili Faille Bloc Vaudreuil—Soulanges, QC
Did you or your association cooperate in developing that draft legislation?
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
We're in favour of that legislation, but we weren't invited to take part in developing it.
Bloc
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Thank you. I just wanted to comment before I get to my last question. I'm glad to hear that Mr. Angus is considering recognizing the value of private enterprise and working along with the heritage people to preserve their assets.
Personally, I would say I would be more than willing to look at a proposal for some way of studying how we could develop some type of partnership. I think the primary player in this one would have to be municipal or provincial government, but I would certainly be willing to look at a proposal that would incorporate those three levels of government, whether it be a tax break on property taxes, as you suggested, or whatever other kinds of initiatives we could pursue.
I did come back to my third question, and the reason I couldn't find it was that it related to your second recommendation, statutory protection.
Now, I just picked up on a bit of the conversation about a draft bill. Is that the draft bill you were referring to when you answered the previous question, or was that a different issue you were speaking to?
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
I've forgotten the previous question, but --
Conservative
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
The Canada historic places act.
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Is that what you were referring to in recommendation two?
Conservative
Harold Albrecht Conservative Kitchener—Conestoga, ON
Do you have a copy of that or would you have a copy of the draft? I would be interested in looking at it, at least, and seeing where it is.
Executive Director, Heritage Canada Foundation
Well, I am a former Public Works employee, so I was involved in reviewing the draft bill as an employee, but in my current role I don't have access to it.
