Madam Speaker, during oral question period on January 29, 2009, I asked the Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages a question about the 375th anniversary of Trois-Rivières.
This year, Trois-Rivières is celebrating its 375th anniversary and has received $2 million from the provincial government. The City of Trois-Rivières has obviously worked hard to organize activities, and we are still awaiting confirmation from the federal government that we will receive a subsidy for these celebrations.
In the midst of all this action, and after a number of meetings, City resolutions, plenty of questions, calls, meetings rescheduled by two ministers, I have come to realize that there is confusion between Trois-Rivières, the cultural capital, and the organization of the 375th anniversary of Trois-Rivières. These are two different things.
The Trois-Rivières cultural development corporation submitted its request for the city to be recognized as a cultural capital of Canada over a year ago, and the city was awarded the title. This year, Trois-Rivières has another committee, a corporation that is organizing the 375th anniversary celebrations. The corporation has a president, a board of directors and an executive director, and it is organizing the festivities highlighting the 375th anniversary of the founding of Trois-Rivières, the second oldest francophone city—it goes without saying—in America. This is a major event that means a lot to Trois-Rivières.
After the cultural capital of Canada title was bestowed on the city, departments seemed to think that the $2 million had been handed over. But Trois-Rivières has not yet received any funding for its 375th anniversary from the federal government. That is why I am not satisfied with the minister's answer, which does nothing to clear up the confusion.
The debate was reignited during the last election when the Conservative candidate was quoted in a full-page spread in the daily Le Nouvelliste. She promised that as soon as she was elected a member of a Conservative government, she would deposit $2 million in the 375th anniversary celebration account.
Imagine how hopeful that made the people of Trois-Rivières feel. People believed that the government had finally seen their point of view and would help them out. Then, after I put the pressure on, I was told by some assistants that Trois-Rivières had not voted for the right party. I am the member for Trois-Rivières, but I am a member of the Bloc Québécois, not the Conservative candidate.
Can the minister tell me whether this confusion will ever be cleared up and whether the government will give the 130,000 people of Trois-Rivières the money they need to organize their 375th anniversary celebration?