Dean Del Mastro

[Arts and Culture, May 27th, 2009]

Once again, Mr. Speaker, it is an honour to get up on this issue.

What will not help artists in Quebec is the Bloc stimulus plan. It will not help them at all because when we flip through this, there is nothing in here that supports arts and culture.

However, where there is a lot of support for arts and culture is in the government's economic action plan which contains record funding for the arts and culture and the Bloc voted against it. The Bloc members can explain that to Quebecers when they try to explain this.

[Arts and Culture, May 27th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that les Grands Ballets will be going on its middle eastern tour. Our government is very supportive of the les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

“How supportive?”, you ask, Mr. Speaker. That is a great question and I am glad you asked me that. This year alone les Grands Ballets will receive $1.5 million from the endowment fund, which is more than three times what it received under the Liberal Party. That is how much this party has given.

That is not all, Mr. Speaker. It will also receive $1.2 million from the Canada Council for the Arts this year and next. That is more, because we are putting more money into the Canada Council for the Arts. The Bloc does not care about the arts.

[May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, it seems we have changed gears a little bit. The member is accepting the fact that this government is the government that is putting more support behind the arts than any other government in history. It is putting more money behind the arts than any other government in history.

This government is proud to recognize the importance of a strong arts and culture sector for Canada's creativity and innovation in these challenging economic times. We are proud of our unparalleled commitment to the Canadian artists in all regions of the country, as well as celebrating creativity in the arts at the highest international level. That is our record. That is what we are going to continue to do. We stand four-square behind the artists of this country.

[May 26th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, if they keep asking the same question, they are going to get the same answer. It is like groundhog day here in the House. I get up every day and I think that maybe we will move on and we will get to something where we can actually establish that every answer I have given is in fact true and we will move on beyond that. However, as I say, it is groundhog day every day; it is the same question.

The hon. member has given me an opportunity to talk about this government's record. She cited a couple of groups in Quebec. I am proud to say that those groups have received, and do receive, substantial support from this government.

She said that I would mention that our government has put record funding into the arts. That is true. There was $540 million in budget 2009 and yes, the Bloc Québécois voted against it.

The Bloc also came up with a Bloc stimulus package, but what was not in the Bloc stimulus package was so much as a mention of the arts. Where was it? It is a pretty thick document. It is probably 50 pages long. The Bloc could not even work the arts in. If I were in the Montreal arts sector, I would be really upset with the Bloc. What can I say? The Bloc forgot about the arts sector.

Who did not forget about the arts community is the Conservative government. In budget 2009 we made an outstanding number of investments, more money than any government in history. The hon. member is well aware of this. In fact just to cite a couple of examples, there is $60 million in additional funding for cultural infrastructure projects; $20 million in new funding for training institutions; $100 million for festivals from coast to coast to coast; a $25 million endowment that will showcase emerging artists on the global arts scene. We have increased the funding for the Canada Council from $150 million a year to $181 million. That is a 17% increase. All the arts groups have come forward and thanked us for putting that additional money into the Canada Council because that is artists helping artists. That is what our government has done. We have increased the funding for the CBC each and every year that we have been in government. I hear from Quebeckers how popular Radio-Canada is. We have increased its funding each and every year. That is what this government has done.

What has the Bloc done? It produced a stimulus document that does not even mention the arts. I did not have anything to do with that. The Bloc did that. Maybe in her follow-up question the member will be able to explain why the Bloc forgot about the arts, why it voted against the arts when budget 2009 came up. The Bloc record in the last few months is kind of shameful, to be perfectly honest.

It is clear that this government is standing behind the arts. The member can look at our record and at the investments we have made. It is very clear we are standing behind the arts. We understand the value of a vibrant arts and culture sector in Canada. We are standing behind it.

What is also clear is that the Bloc forgot about the arts in its stimulus package. The Bloc also voted against the budget. It is also clear that each and every time I come into this House on the late show questions, it is groundhog day.

[May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, actually the Bloc members are kind of all over the road with respect to arts and culture. They do not want to recognize the significant enhancements and the significant investments that have been made in the Canada Council for the Arts.

The member mentioned the Canada Council for the Arts, but she failed to mention that we have increased their budget from $150 million when we became the government to $181 million, a 17% increase that we have made to that.

The member did not mention the fact, again, that our budget for arts and culture in budget 2009 is a record unparalleled investment of $540 million. She did not mention that she voted against artists receiving that support.

She mentioned the Grands Ballets, but she did not mention that it received, if I am not mistaken, a little over $1 million in support. It got $8,000 from the program that she mentioned.

We are standing up for arts and culture. We are putting our money where our mouth is.

[May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for giving me another opportunity to talk about this government's commitment to arts and culture.

The Minister of Canadian Heritage has been working tirelessly since his appointment, criss-crossing the country in an effort to meet and speak with leaders from across the arts community.

Those he has spoken with expressed their opinions and made suggestions, and this government has listened. We listened by announcing in budget 2009 an unparalleled investment of $540 million into arts and culture over the next two years, an investment that the Bloc Québécois voted against.

Budget 2009 also announced the establishment of a $25 million endowment to create the Canada Prizes for the Arts and Creativity. This one-time investment will not only reward Canada's most promising emerging artists, it will link this country internationally with the highest level of artistic achievement.

If the member opposite is so concerned about how this government invests funds into arts and culture, then maybe when her party presented the second phase of its relaunch plan on April 30, it should have actually made a recommendation, or who knows, perhaps two, on how it would better provide for the arts and culture community, something it failed to do. In fact, there is no mention of arts and culture in its document at all.

I hope that the member's interest in the Canada Prizes shows that she will support this government initiative.

[Environmental Enforcement Act, May 12th, 2009]

Again, Mr. Speaker, for clarification, we are not dropping environmental standards. We are eliminating unnecessary duplication, regulations that are stifling the flow of infrastructure dollars in our country.

The member for Parkdale—High Park stood and said that he wanted money to flow, but he could not really decide how to do it. The Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities stood and said that he was working with the municipalities and the provinces. We are working with them co-operatively. We are coming up with a plan to get money flowing, to create jobs and to create the infrastructure of tomorrow. We are going to get it done as quickly as possible.

We make no apologies for the fact that there is a need for speed, and we are responding to that need.

[Taxation, May 12th, 2009]

Mr. Speaker, Canada's Conservative government is focused on an economic action plan that is creating jobs and reducing taxes.

The Liberal Party, on the other hand, is focused on increasing taxes. In fact, the most notable policy resolution that came from the recent Liberal Party convention was a reaffirmation of its tax on everything, job killing carbon tax. That is right. Liberals want a carbon tax. This is the same tax the Liberal leader pushed for in his first leadership race in 2006 and it is the same tax the Liberals had front and centre in their platform in 2008, which was soundly rejected by Canadians. The Liberal leader said himself, quite bluntly, “We will have to raise taxes”.

Now raising taxes is absolutely the worst thing to do during a recession. The Liberals should come clean with Canadians. Besides the carbon tax, what other taxes do they plan to increase? Who is going to pay these new taxes? How much will they be?

Canadians deserve to know.

[Environmental Enforcement Act, May 12th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, the member's question is important and I will point out to Canadians why this decision was made.

We know right now that we are trying to get projects rolled out the door. We have a stimulus fund and we want to put Canadians to work. What the change is really about is saying to the municipalities and to the provinces in these regions that we will trust their environmental assessment and we will trust them to do the right thing on this because they have already done due diligence.

We have a process right now that I would categorize as excessive due diligence. We ask our partners at the municipal level and at the provincial level to do these assessments and then we do them again. It is choking the system. We want to get money out the door. We want to get the modern infrastructure, the roads, bridges and highways that we are looking at building through Building Canada and the infrastructure stimulus package. We want to get that moving but it has been ground to a halt through unnecessary legislation in many regards. We will trust our partners to get the job done, to do a good job and to be responsible and accountable to taxpayers. We will get money rolling out the doors to get projects completed.

[Environmental Enforcement Act, May 12th, 2009]

Madam Speaker, we agree with the member and that is why in budget 2007 we dramatically increased the budget for enforcement officers. We did that again the following year when we increased the budget for officers for Parks Canada. We agree with the member that a $300,000 fine is not enough to necessarily deter that. What will deter it is a $6 million per day fine. What will deter it is a listing of that company on a registry that says that this company broke the environmental laws.

Frankly, when shareholders look at a company that is paying fines in the range of $6 million per day, they will not be happy. Companies need to be concerned about their corporate image when they are trying to attract investment because people do not like investing in companies that are negligent to the environment. This bill moves on that and it is a critical change.