Official Languages Committee on Oct. 30th, 2012

[Nicole Bourget]

Those clauses are already in place. They exist and they are already available. They are standard clauses on bilingualism, on each party's roles and responsibilities, on the need to ensure that material is produced in both official languages and that communication is done appropriately. Yes, Mr. Godin, those clauses exist, they are already there.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

The clauses should also enshrine the bilingualism. People who want to participate must respect the country's two official languages, not just where numbers warrant.

[Nicole Bourget]

Those clauses exist. They are part of our contribution agreements.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I would like to address another aspect of the situation. A little earlier, we talked about the war of 1812 that we are celebrating at the moment and the celebrations around the 60th anniversary of the Queen's coronation and so on. I hope that the 150th anniversary of Confederation is not going to replace Canada Day on July 1.

Let us use the agreements as an example. Try to imagine the situation in my riding. I do not want to insult the Queen. I do not want to do that here today. But first we have the Queen and then we have the war of 1812. If we wanted money to celebrate Canada Day on July 1—I thought that the Queen's day was June 1—we had to set up programs dealing with the Queen or the war of 1812. If the little Acadian community in Caraquet wanted to talk about something else, to talk about its own Canada, it either had to tell lies or be shafted.

Are we going to see that for the 150th anniversary of Confederation? Is Canada Day money going to be used to promote the 150th anniversary of Confederation? That is what happened with the celebration of the war of 1812 and the Queen's jubilee. Money that is normally used in the way we like it, to celebrate Canada, was taken away.

[Nicole Bourget]

Mr. Godin, our program criteria are clear. We encouraged people who wanted to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II or the war of 1812. No money was taken away if people did not celebrate those occasions. The Canada Day program has specific envelopes all across the country. Those sums are still available and are project-based. No directives have been given to take money away from people if they did not celebrate those occasions.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I will check my sources of information again and I will provide them to you myself. I will apologize if I am in error.

[Nicole Bourget]

I look forward to it. I too will apologize if I am in error.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I am not saying that money has been taken away. I think there was a subsequent decision that it would not be appropriate to take it away. Not everyone was ready to do so. There were instructions saying that, if they wanted money, one of the two things had to be included. I will get more information about it.

We were talking about budgets for the celebration. If you look at Expo 67, it left a legacy. We had something. What are the people from Canadian Heritage waiting for? Are they perhaps not at that point yet, of deciding what they are going to do so that people remember it?

Our colleague Mr. Benskin said that he arrived a year after Expo but that it left a great impression on him when he arrived in Canada. He went there often. There was something about Expo that we remember. No one can forget Expo. Does Canadian Heritage have any idea about something that we will remember, some symbol here in Canada that will make us remember this occasion?

[Nicole Bourget]

As I mentioned, plans are being studied. Nothing has been formalized. What I can say with certainty is that Canada's economic situation is not the same as it was in 1967 and that, whatever the financial investment may be, we will have to keep that in mind. Don't forget that, as well as Expo, there were centennial celebrations. The price tag was over $1 billion. I think it was $1.4 billion in today's dollars.

I am not the government. I am not going to express an opinion about this, but I can say that what we do for programming will take into account the economic times we are in. It will be financially prudent, I am certain, and it will consider what Canadians can afford.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

You have the floor, Ms. Bateman.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

Thank you once more, Mr. Chair.

I appreciate the comments from both of you, that you are planning and getting all kinds of ideas organized. But, following on from Mr. Godin's point, I do realize that we now have different tools, like Facebook, on which we can keep the memories of all the events. It was not available at the time. So it is a new time, a new century, with everything that entails.

In terms of including young people, you have already discussed using Facebook and social media. I hope that, during your planning process, you will remember young people of all ages. I remember the time very clearly when I was younger, very young. It was not just Expo, because, since it was held in Montreal, it was not accessible to all Canadians. However, I remember celebrations at school, with little books, and physical activities that were part of the process of celebration and were also good for the health. Things like that.

So there are a lot of possibilities. Perhaps Facebook is not perfect, or even good for very young people. But, in my opinion, it is very important to include young people of all ages because we are all Canadians.

[Nicole Bourget]

I quite agree with you. I was very young at the time. There were centennial celebrations right across the country. It was a time for a lot of infrastructure, community arenas, community centres. It really was a vibrant time.

In the activities planned for all across the country, we must reach out to the youth, for sure. This is also their future and the county belongs to them. So it is a goal that everyone shares. We have to find ways of reaching out to young people of all ages. You are perfectly right.

[Joyce Bateman, Conservative, Winnipeg South Centre, MB]

The monument that Expo left was perhaps good at the time. Perhaps we now need a monument that would include young people and have stories of the old ones, their grandparents and things like that. It is possible now with social media.

I hope that we will use them. They are part of your plan, right?

[Nicole Bourget]

They are certainly important. I am thinking of using social media, like Twitter, applications and so forth. An application for young people of school age on the war of 1812 has already been made. The NFB made it. It is animated. It is great.

So yes, we are concerned about young people. They certainly have to be part of this.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you.

Mr. Dion's contribution will be the last one.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

How many minutes are you giving me?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Five minutes.

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

Ms. Bourget, I agree with you. We cannot celebrate the 150th anniversary like we celebrated the centennial. First of all, the 150th anniversary is less important. Let us keep something in our tank for the bicentennial.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[Stéphane Dion, Liberal, Saint-Laurent—Cartierville, QC]

But the reason you gave does not seem to be the right one to me. Canada is much richer now than in 1967. Our GDP has grown considerably. Just look at the extent of the growth. We are much richer now than we were then. The efforts of the leaders of the time were incredible.

I would like to go back to the road to 2017. Can you remind us of the milestones along that road?

[Nicole Bourget]

Of course, there are a number. There is the war of 1812, the diamond jubilee that we are celebrating at the moment and the 200th anniversary of the Red River Selkirk Settlement.

In 2013, there will be the centennial of the first Canadian expedition to the Arctic and the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763. There will also be the 20th anniversary of the Battle of Medak Pocket, which took place in Croatia in 1993. Our soldiers were part of the United Nations Protection Force.

In 2014, there will be the Charlottetown and Quebec City conferences, the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the 75th anniversary of the Second World War and the 200th anniversary of Sir George-Étienne Cartier.

In 2015, there will be the 200th anniversary of Sir John A. Macdonald and the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Canadian flag.

[Tyrone Benskin, NDP, Jeanne-Le Ber, QC]

Don't forget the 375th anniversary of Montreal the same year.

[Denis Racine]

The 375th anniversary will be celebrated in 2017.

[Nicole Bourget]

I am sorry, I did not get to 2017.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

In 2017, we will have the 225th anniversary of the creation of Canada.

It's open to debate, but the first time the word “Canada” was used formally was in the Constitutional Act

of 1792.