Mr. Chair, I intend to share my time with the hon. member for Winnipeg South Centre and the hon. member for Fredericton.
On February 27 last, the House of Commons adopted a motion by a vote of 159 to 123 calling on the government to give national status to Exporail, a rail museum on the south shore of Montreal. This was somewhat of a historic moment in this House because it was the first time in Canadian history that the House of Commons had adopted a motion in support of a specifically named museum.
At the time, the parliamentary secretary in arguing against the adoption of this motion, said that museums policy could not be made on the fly, that there could not be an ad hoc approach to museums policy. To that date no museum outside of Ottawa had been granted national status and funding on an annual basis.
A few short weeks later the Prime Minister decided to make museums policy on the fly and on an ad hoc basis by announcing the Canadian human rights museum project in Winnipeg. Of course the foundation for that project was laid by the previous Liberal government. I would add that the Conservative government did not have the common decency to invite the Liberal members of Parliament from the Winnipeg area to that ceremony, despite all the work that the previous Liberal government had done on the file.
I would like to know a couple of things from the minister. In this House about two weeks ago a member from the Bloc Québécois asked the minister how far along she was in analyzing the request by the Exporail representatives to grant the museum national museum status. The minister said that she was looking into the matter. How far along is she in analyzing the issue?
In a letter that I wrote to the minister on March 9 as the advocate for Exporail, I suggested that she and I and representatives of Exporail and the Canadian Railway Historical Association meet to discuss the issue further.
I would like answers to two questions. How far along is the department in looking at this request? When will we be meeting to discuss it?
I would like to make one more point about the Exporail museum. As the minister knows, museums in Canada receive part of their revenues from gate receipts. The average is about 33% of total museum revenues come from gate receipts. Exporail receives 45% of its revenues from gate receipts. I think it is a great candidate for national museum status and funding on an annual basis, especially since the House of Commons in a vote of 159 to 123 affirmed its support for Exporail.