Dean Del Mastro

[Economic Recovery Act (stimulus), October 2nd, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would ask the member who taught economics 100 if he could answer a question for the House.

How can the Liberals say on one side that they stand for a 45-day work year, which would cost billions of dollars, $4 billion, and on the other side say that they are concerned about increases in payroll taxes? Where was their concern for the increases in payroll taxes when they were putting forward un-costed, un-budgeted, unaccounted for and enormously expensive proposals for EI last spring? Why are they now concerned about payroll taxes? They cannot have it both ways and the hon. member well knows that. He taught economics 100. Maybe he would like to tell the Canadian people how much their proposals were going to cost Canadians, because we would not have it.

[Business of Supply, October 1st, 2009]

Madam Speaker, I listened to what the member had to say. He was all over the road with his comments. He was talking about things that were not even related.

Let us talk about something which I think the member should be concerned about. Let us talk about why he should be concerned about the position he is putting forward. His constituents want the government to focus on fighting a global economic recession and to show leadership at a time when it is desperately needed. The Prime Minister is doing exactly that. The member wants to fight the recovery. He is joining his leader in fighting the recovery that Canadians want to see.

Today, the IMF said exactly what our Prime Minister has been saying for months, that Canada was the last country to enter the recession and Canada will be the first country to emerge from it. That is what the IMF said. It said Canada--

[September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I promised I would give you some third party quotes on what our government is doing for the arts and what the Bloc Québécois voted against. I do not know how that could be a half-truth, by the way.

The Bloc member knows very well that her party voted against the stimulus plan, which included record funding for the arts.

Let us look at what the director of the Just For Laughs Festival said. Maybe she has heard of it. It is in Montreal. He said:

By including the arts and culture in its policy for fighting the crisis, the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, Prime Minister recognizes the role and power of this sector for the national economy," says Gilbert Rozon, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Just For Laughs Group...

That is what people in Quebec are saying about what our government has done in its economic action plan. I wonder what they will say to the Bloc Québécois members in the next election when they stand up and say they voted against all those increases to the arts.

[September 30th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to be here this evening to talk about all the great things our government is doing in support of the arts.

I think that the Bloc critic is very confused on this file. We continually get questions that demonstrate she does not understand the file very well. For example, with respect to the Canada music fund, which she cited, this summer the minister announced, with great appreciation from the industry, a five year commitment. That is a $138 million commitment to the Canada music fund over five years.

I could give a pile of quotes from the industry that demonstrate exactly how appreciative the industry is.

However, the Bloc members voted against that. In fact they voted against a lot of things in the 40th Parliament, things that have really surprised me. They voted against record funding for the Canada Council. The member cited the Canada Council, and the Bloc was against that.

It is hard to say anything about the amount of money the Canada Council received because the Bloc voted against giving it anything. It was record funding for the arts in Canada, but as I said, the Bloc Québécois is voting against a lot of things these days in the 40th Parliament.

Tonight the Bloc members voted against minimum sentences for offences involving trafficking of persons under the age of 18 years: child trafficking. The Bloc voted against a bill that would bring tougher laws against child trafficking.

I cannot believe the audacity of the member to come to the House and complain about funding for the arts when the Bloc members have voted against funding for the arts. Every night it is the same thing: not enough money. They voted for no money for the arts. That was the Bloc's position when our government put record funding behind the arts. When we put record funding behind the arts in the economic action plan, the Bloc members were against it.

Artists in Quebec, if they are listening, should remember that the Bloc Québécois members had a choice. They had a choice to vote in support of artists or to vote against them and the Bloc members voted against them.

That is the record the Bloc members will have to defend. They will have to stand up and say they voted against it and then fill in the blank after that. It is a sad story, because we have stood behind Quebec artists.

When I rise in my supplemental response to the member, I will let the House know what some people in Quebec had to say about what our government is doing for the arts in Canada.

[September 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the example that I used.

The member is using half of the facts. If it were a recipe, she would only be using half of the recipe. That is no way to bake a cake. We have to use the whole recipe. The amount she is speaking of, the $3.7 million, is the amount that is given to the granting committees, but the full budget, including the committees, is $6.7 million.

Celebrating Canada is not propaganda. It is celebrating what a great country we have, what a great nation we have, the friendship that binds this country together from coast to coast to coast, Canadians in every part of this country standing and celebrating together in great numbers. I am very proud that this government supports it.

[September 29th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am kind of shocked by this question, to be honest. It was only a few short months ago that the member stood in the House and argued in support of a great national institution, CBC/Radio-Canada, something which our government is very proud to support.

Maybe I could add a bit of logic so the member can understand the fulsomeness of the answer that the minister gave.

The best way to bake a cake is to use a recipe, but if we only use half of the recipe, we are not going to wind up with a cake. The member, frankly, is using half the recipe here. She is talking about a part of the program. She is not talking about the entire program. I would like to correct the member's facts. The member cited a figure of $3.7 million, but the only problem is that the program is $6.7 million. We can see why her facts are somewhat misleading. We can see why this cake simply would not look like a cake if she were to bake it. It is not the recipe.

I would like to add a bit to what she said and talk about some of the things that the celebrate Canada pool of funds supports. For example, in Newfoundland and Labrador, there are 194 projects across the province. In Nova Scotia, there are 89 activities, including Pier 21. In Manitoba there were 123 events funded in 2009, including a ceremony to bestow citizenship on 60 new Canadians. Wow, 60 new Canadians; what a way to celebrate Canada. The celebrate Canada program supported many other projects such as the Canada Day breakfast in Edmonton which served over 10,000 people.

The list goes on and on from coast to coast to coast of Canadians who want to get together to celebrate what is the greatest country on this planet. That is why they get together. Our government is proud to support it because we think it is important that we celebrate Canada, all it has to offer and all its greatness.

[2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, September 18th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, earlier this year, our Minister of Canadian Heritage announced a $138 million investment into the Canadian music fund over this and the next four years. That is a five-year commitment.

What are people saying about this commitment to Canadian music? Heather Ostertag, the president and CEO of FACTOR, said:

We are fortunate to have strong leadership and vision from our current government, which recognizes the importance of supporting sustainable business models and believes in the cultural component....

That is what we are hearing. That is what we are doing. We are standing behind Canadian music.

[September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is interesting that the member cites Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. I know for a fact that this specific group, an outstanding Canadian group, receives substantial support from this government, in fact more support from this government than it received from the previous government and more support this year than in years past.

Our government is standing behind Les Grands Ballets and the member knows that. She is simply not being fulsome in her question. She is picking out one part of it and saying, “It did not get as much money here as it would have liked but, oh, by the way, it did receive in excess of $1 million in support from this government”.

We are proud of it because we are supporting excellence. We are supporting artists when they need it, in a way that they need it, and in a way that will allow them to continue to thrill audiences and, quite simply, to continue to hone their trade and put Canada on the map as one of the premier arts countries in the world.

[September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise once again and respond in the late show edition of the sitting of the House today.

We put this question to our hard-working folks in the department. They gave me back a book. There are so many things that they are doing. They could not possibly sum it up so that I could get through it all in four minutes.

Let me first address the issue of BC Scene. I want to congratulate the National Arts Centre on an excellent program that brought established and emerging stars of British Columbia's vibrant artistic scene to the nation's capital. I know that I speak for my entire department when I say that we were delighted to provide the significant support to make that happen.

BC Scene focuses primarily on providing an opportunity for Canadian artists to share their work with Canadian audiences. BC Scene is a part of a series of biannual festivals focusing on different Canadian regions. It was developed by the National Arts Centre as part of its mission to truly be a national institution.

There were over 60 arts presenters invited to attend the festival in order to create new opportunities for B.C. artists. They included presenters from abroad to ensure opportunities for tours and so forth as well. It was an absolutely fantastic event and I want to congratulate everyone involved with BC Scene at the National Arts Centre in that regard.

The member cited a few numbers. I would like to cite a few numbers as well. The government is going to invest close to $22 million this year to support Canadian culture abroad through organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada, the Association for the Export of Canadian Books, the National Film Board, FACTOR and Musicaction. Their mandate includes the support and promotion of Canadian culture, both at home and abroad.

If I got into the list of everything that this government is doing in support of Canadian arts and culture through our economic action plan and budget 2009, I do not think we would get out of here much before midnight. It is a very significant list of what our government has undertaken and we are proud of it. We think that the investments we are making in Canadian artists and creativity are going to pay a significant dividend not just for Canada but indeed enrich the entire world. Our artists compete with everyone and we are very proud of them.

To cite a couple of numbers, just this year we are investing $60 million in new funding for cultural infrastructure, a further $20 million in new funding to train artists and, because we understand how important culture is to our economy, we will invest over $100 million this year and next in the marquee tourism events program to also draw tourism and related spin-offs.

We are investing $200 million in the Canadian television fund, $30 million in magazines and Canadian newspapers, and $28 million in new media. Subsequent to that, in June 2009 we announced $504 million in renewed investments in the Canada heritage arts programs and the Canada Council for the Arts over five years.

Members can see that the list goes on and on. The fact remains that no government has put more support behind arts and culture in the history of this country than this Conservative government. I am very proud of it and this member knows full well the numbers that I speak.

[September 15th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, the hon. member would be happy if he read the report on the future of broadcasting that was completed by the heritage committee last June. He will see that there are a number of good recommendations in there for broadcasting.

One of the things that we recommended in that report was an extension of the local programming improvement fund. Of interest to that member is that the local programming improvement fund, or the LPIF, specifically provides funding for those stations that operate in communities smaller than one million people, the types of communities that he is talking about, to make sure that there is funding to provide information and services to these areas.

If the member does his research on that, he will find out that this fund is providing exactly the help that he seeks to see.