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Very good. Thank you very much, Chair.
Hello to all the committee members.
[Translation]
I am pleased to be here to speak to the 2014-2015 Supplementary Estimates (B).
Before I do, I would like to tell you about some of our recent accomplishments, as well as the direction we intend to take over the next few years.
[English]
Budget 2014 reiterated our government's support for Canada's arts and culture organizations, so they can continue to build stronger communities and a stronger economy. Arts, culture, and heritage represent close to $50 billion in the Canadian economy and over 647,000 jobs across the country.
We announced the permanent renewal of cultural programs, including the Canada book fund and the Canada music fund, as well as arts funding delivered through the department and the Canada Council for the Arts. This also includes funding for the Canada cultural investment fund, the Canada cultural spaces fund, the Canada arts presentation fund, and the Fathers of Confederation buildings trust. Permanently renewing these programs brings them in line with other funding programs in the arts and culture sector that our government has already renewed on an ongoing basis, such as the Canada arts training fund, the Canada periodical fund, and the Canada Media Fund. This $122.8 million investment demonstrates our government's commitment to providing ongoing, stable funding for arts support programs.
[Translation]
In addition to supporting arts and culture, we are committed to preserving our history, our heritage and our values.
We are proud of our three new national museums—the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, in Halifax; the Canadian Museum of History; and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which opened on September 19 in my home city of Winnipeg. Just last week, our government announced an additional $80.5 million to repair and rejuvenate the Canada Museum of Science and Technology, so that it can continue to inform, enthral and inspire future innovation when it reopens its doors in 2017.
[English]
With respect to sport—and I see John Weston is sitting up straight as I begin to talk about this, and I know how involved he is in promoting it—we have maintained our record levels of investment. This includes ongoing programming support for our Olympic, Paralympic, and Special Olympic athletes and coaches. And, just last month, the Governor General proclaimed 2015 the Year of Sport in Canada. This is a year-long opportunity to celebrate the role of sport in our country and to encourage Canadians to get involved at all levels.
The Year of Sport designation is particularly fitting as Canada will host a number of important international sport events in 2015, including the 2015 International Ice Hockey Foundation world junior championship, the FIFA women's world cup, and the Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. Long after the games are over, they will leave a legacy of world-class athletic facilities for current and future athletes. We will be able to host an increasing number of international competitions here at home.
These major events—in addition to the Canada Winter Games in Prince George, British Columbia, and other sport competitions and community celebrations—will help distinguish 2015 as the Year of Sport in Canada. I'm especially pleased that the Year of Sport is also intended to highlight moments in our nation's history and to build momentum leading up to the 150th anniversary of Confederation, in 2017. That remains a key focus within Canadian Heritage.
[Translation]
In 2014, we commemorated a number of important anniversaries, such as the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the 75th anniversary of the start of the Second World War, the bicentennial of the birth of Sir George-Étienne Cartier. We also commemorated the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown and Quebec conferences, which led the way to Confederation.
In 2015, we will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Canada's national flag. We will also remember our beginnings by commemorating the 200th anniversary of the birth of Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister.
Other significant anniversaries are coming up in the next few years. They include the 175th anniversary of Sir Wilfrid Laurier's birth, the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage in Canada, the 100th anniversary of the First World War Battles of the Somme and Beaumont-Hamel, and the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Hong Kong.
And 2017 will mark, in addition to Canada's 150th birthday, the 100th anniversary of the Battles of Vimy Ridge and Passchendaele, the 125th anniversary of the Stanley Cup, the 100th anniversary of the National Hockey League, the 75th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, and the 50th anniversary of the Order of Canada and the Canada Games.
As we approach our Confederation's 150th anniversary, we have the opportunity, as Canadians, to commemorate so many milestones. I believe that every Canadian should know about these historic events and understand their significance for our country—a country that is strong, proud and free.
Canadian Heritage is already working closely with other federal departments and organizations on activities designed to mark the road-to-2017 milestones.
[English]
There is no doubt that Canada 150 presents amazing opportunities for our country's creative economy. We've also emphasized that this time of reflection and celebration belongs to each and every Canadian in all regions and communities across the country. That's why we gave Canadians a chance to have their say about how we should celebrate.
We've reached out to Canadians through round table conversations, face-to-face meetings, the web, and social media. Every community should think about the way to celebrate people and events that have marked their history. There is so much to share, so much to be proud of, and our government will play an important role so that every Canadian can be part of, and proud of, the 150th anniversary of our country.
[Translation]
The committee members have asked me to be here to speak about Supplementary Estimates (B). Allow me to highlight the most significant items before I take your questions.
We will dedicate $65 million to establish the Toronto 2015 Sport Legacy Fund associated with the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games. The fund will ensure that new facilities being constructed for the games will have the necessary funding to continue to serve our athletes in training, as well as members of the local communities, for a long time to come.
We will also devote $11 million to commemorating important milestones on the road to 2017.
[English]
The department will also transfer $127,000 to the Canada Council for the Arts for the Commission internationale du théâtre francophone to support multilateral cooperation projects in French, as well as to ensure Canada's participation in meetings of the commission.
Another $150,000 will be transferred to the National Arts Centre Corporation for the 2015 edition of Zones Théâtrales. This biennial event showcases professional theatre from Canadian francophone communities and the regions of Quebec.
And $300,000 will go to the National Capital Commission to support the building of a national Holocaust monument.
The net impact of this year's supplementary estimates (B) for the Department of Canadian Heritage will be an increase of $91.75 million to its spending authority.
[Translation]
The net impact of this year's Supplementary Estimates (B) for the Department of Canadian Heritage will be a $91.75-million increase to its spending authority.
In closing, I would like to thank the members of the standing committee for all the work they do. I commend all of you, particularly on the time and energy you devote to producing extensive studies on such diverse subjects as Olympic and paralympic sport and Canada's music industry.
The input you gather from a wide cross-section of Canadians provides valuable insight that helps us shape our policy, our planning and our legislation. I am grateful for all your efforts, and I look forward to continuing to work with you and with all our stakeholders to strengthen the arts, culture and heritage in our country.
I would like to clarify something before I wrap up. I said that my home city is Winnipeg, but I was born in Saskatoon. I moved to Winnipeg when I was four years old. I am a Manitoban, but Winnipeg is close to my heart. I just wanted to make sure you understood that I am a bit of a Franco-Saskatchewanian and a bit of a Franco-Manitoban.
I will now be happy to answer your questions.
Thank you very much.
Let me thank you, John. As an MP, you have done so much to encourage and inspire the rest of us to become fitter, to take care of our health, and to participate in activities that we otherwise would never have thought to participate in. I do want to thank you. You've inspired me personally, and I know you're going to continue this wonderful adventure of fitness.
You care so much, not only about us, but you're now talking about our kids, and it is about our kids. The Year of Sport, in 2015, for me is about our kids, who struggle every day to cope with some of the stresses, but to also remain active and healthy.
I think we're going to see celebrations across the country because of the very special events we are going to welcome in Canada during the 2015 Year of Sport.
When I mentioned the women's world cup, I only have to think about the 14 years that I spent coaching soccer. I'm also a referee for soccer. I played on four teams before becoming a member of Parliament. I miss those days; I miss coaching the kids. I think that kids across this country who are involved in soccer, particularly our young girls, are going to be at those games. They are going to aspire to be like Manitoba's Desiree Scott, and like Christine Sinclair. I think this is an awesome opportunity to further inspire our young people to take care of their health, and of course to get involved in team sport that builds character and builds discipline. That is always very important in their future years.
We also have many other events that will be taking place in 2015. I mentioned some of them. The Pan Am/Parapan American Games are going to be an incredible opportunity for all of Canada, and international communities, to celebrate together the importance of sport.
We have seen how Canadians react when we get together to celebrate sport. We saw it during our Vancouver Olympics. It was incredible to feel that passion. There was a vibe in Canada as we welcomed all of our athletes to Vancouver, and we cheered them on from afar. The same thing is going to happen for the Pan Am/Parapan American Games; the kids are already talking about being able to attend. I'm so proud to be part of a government that has invested $500 million into the Pan Am/Parapan Games. We will be represented. We have a cultural strategy that will allow us to represent our Canadian identity to countries from abroad, and it will be a partnership with the Province of Ontario, and, of course, the municipality, that will forever leave legacies that our future generations will be able to benefit from.
I'm a hockey mom too. The world juniors in ice hockey are coming to Canada, and it's going to be a tremendous opportunity for our hockey dads and moms to once again celebrate a sport that is seen as the ultimate Canadian sport. You can't say the names of the two sports, lacrosse and hockey, without thinking of Canada. For our girls and boys who are playing hockey, the Sidney Crosby and the Hayley Wickenheiser wannabes, this is a perfect opportunity for them to show their talent, and for us to admire them, as we usually do with all of these kinds of events. I think it's going to be a great opportunity.
:
The 150th anniversary of Canada is going to be a coast-to-coast celebration of who we are, but also a celebration of how we became the greatest country in the world. We have a lot to be thankful for. As I think today about the fact that we are remembering those who sacrificed so much, as we think of the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I and the 75th anniversary of the beginning of World War II, we need to thank our men and women in uniform who fought valiantly for our freedom, and we would not be the Canada today without them.
So 150 years ago, many of these men and women fought so that we could have what we have today. It's important that we celebrate that and we're going to do that in the 150th, but aside from the past and the present, we have a bright future, and the 150th is going to focus on our youth who have a desire to participate in these celebrations, so that they can foresee a future where they, too, will be able to remember how we became the Canadians that we are.
I am looking so forward to it, not only to the festivals and the theatre that will take place, I'm sure there are books that will be written. I didn't get to see them all, but we've received some 12,000 submissions from Canadians online. We had 20 round tables across the country, ministerial round tables, and several MPs did their own consultations. Canadians are excited about the 150th and it is going to be a tremendous opportunity. We will remember this for generations to come, and I'm just so proud that we're a part of it.
I hope that all sides of the House of Commons will actively encourage Canadians to participate and submit their ideas for their communities. This is about a celebration that will touch both large communities and small communities. I want everyone in Canada to have the opportunity to celebrate where we came from, who we are, and where we're going.
I hope everyone here has a plan and will actively help their municipalities and their ridings to submit those as we progress.
Thank you for being here today, Minister.
In terms of their profession, Canadian musicians are amongst the best in the world. In fact many of them are the best in the world. I was going to name some names, but there are too many to name. I would be here too long, and I'd be afraid to leave some out. The evidence of that is the millions and millions of records sold worldwide in over 100 countries. They tell our stories to us and to the world. Their songs bring joy into our lives. While they are doing that, they create thousands and thousands of jobs for others—dancers, choreographers, agents, managers, security guards, ticket sellers, sound engineers, technicians, artists, and even bus drivers. None of that happens until a song is written and performed. This is somebody sitting at home by the hour, with a piano or guitar or something, all by themselves, trying to create something and communicate with others.
That is my little tribute to musicians, because I think they're wonderful.
Having said that, a musician's life is not easy. It's an extremely competitive business. They have to travel, particularly in Canada, thousands and thousands of miles to find an audience. I know that many of them have worked years and years with very little income; not a great financial return.
Our committee studied the Canadian music industry last year. I wonder if you could please comment on our recommendations and what measures our federal government is taking to support musicians in the Canadian music industry.
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I take a special interest in the music industry. In fact the Canadian music industry generates about $3 billion into the Canadian economy every single year. I am so proud that we have the talented artists we do have. Every year when the Junos occur, I hope that all Canadians are watching. I know that Parliamentary Secretary Dykstra and I were able to watch our talented artists receive their Juno awards in Winnipeg.
I have to say that I'm proud to be part of a government that supports this industry with the Canada music fund. It was temporary at one point. They had sunsetting amounts. We made it permanent in budget 2014. That fund helps to support over 1,000 marketing, touring, and showcasing events. It helps to support 1,000 emerging and established artists. I think of people like Carly Rae Jepsen, I think of Metric, and there are so many others who have benefited and gone on to be incredibly well known across the entire world. We have to continue to support this cultural industry, not only because of its economic benefits but because it really does speak to who we are as Canadians.
You as a committee did a fantastic job with your report. I met with many of the witnesses who appeared here, and they were very thankful. I'd like to thank all of you on the committee for the hard work you put into making that report as successful as possible. We are looking at the recommendations. Some of the recommendations of course touch on some areas that are outside of our jurisdiction, but I continue to work with my counterparts at either the provincial or territorial level to ensure that there is funding and support for our musicians for years to come.
We do have a number of programs that are also available for our official language minority community musicians and artists. I am proud that we have these funds available. In my home riding, they support musicians like Chic Gamine, for example, from St. Boniface. I'm very proud to be part of a government that does support musicians.
But more can be done, and that's why we are looking at your recommendations very closely. I did send a letter to the committee with some of the advice that we've been given. I look forward to perhaps coming out with more good news for our musicians in the near future.
:
Now you're talking to my heart.
The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is going to celebrate, along with many other countries. It's a celebration but it's also a sad time. We look to our past to learn from mistakes made by others so that we don't repeat them. The Museum for Human Rights is a creation not only by government, because government is taxpayers.... Taxpayers wanted us to invest in this one-of-a-kind—and I mean “one-of-a-kind” in the world—museum so that we can teach others to be respectful, to be a peaceful nation, and to learn from our mistakes.
The Museum for Human Rights combined taxpayer funds, and there were thousands of people who donated. The Friends of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights collected donations. It's one of the largest sums of money ever collected in our history in donations for a national institution. I need to take a moment to thank Gail Asper for chairing this very important fundraising effort, and for seeing the museum of her father, Izzy Asper, come to fruition. She and her brothers were phenomenal champions.
I'm just so proud that our agreed to invest $100 million in capital so that the museum could be built, and to make it a national museum. He is the only person who could make that happen, and Gail Asper has recognized our Prime Minister's commitment and his courage to do so. The fact that they will receive, in perpetuity, some $21 million a year for operational expenses is obviously a demonstration of his commitment to human rights.
Our has so many other initiatives that we could speak about, that we as a government support, such as his maternal and child health initiative, which has raised some $7.8 billion apparently. He has continued abroad to fight for human rights in China, for example, and doesn't ever stand down. He stands up for what's right. He, in my opinion, is one of our champions of this generation, fighting for the rights of those who are more vulnerable, fighting for human rights here and abroad.
:
I am responsible for a portfolio but not Library and Archives Canada. As you know, Mr. Berthiaume is in charge, but I have discussed the issue with him.
I would like to make a comment that may help the committee as it considers the matter. First of all, with respect to the backlog the minister mentioned, Library and Archives Canada recognized that there was a problem. A plan was put in place but did not work well. The plan was reworked, and additional resources were allocated to implement the new approach. It seems that progress is now being made.
Second of all, it would be worthwhile to discuss the matter of the records digitization with Mr. Berthiaume. The matter is more complicated because Library and Archives Canada made the decision to abandon that approach, and I think the decision was partly motivated by the fact that the new government department, Shared Services Canada, had been established in the interim.
Shared Services Canada gave every department the opportunity to use the same software. Prior to that, the people at Library and Archives Canada thought that they were going to have to develop their own system and link it to the systems of all the other departments. So the decision they made was due to the change in circumstances. My understanding is that Mr. Berthiaume believes that the option available through Shared Services Canada, in other words, using the same government-wide software, could produce better results more quickly.
The cost stems from the fact that investments had already been made. Again, I am far from being an expert when it comes to this subject or the details. Mr. Berthiaume is the expert, but I just wanted to tell the committee what I have learned in the course of our meetings.
:
Thank you. I'm told that I'm not supposed to talk about the Habs because there are some Bruins fans in the room.
Hockey Canada will be celebrating its 100th anniversary, so there will be a number of events that will take place. They are actually already taking place, and this includes a travel exhibition, a school program, the production of a special patch for hockey jerseys, a gala and a concert, and various other activities.
One of the main activities of the celebration is centred around the travelling exhibition, which is touring communities across Canada. The exhibition is visiting local hockey tournaments, along with the Canadian Junior Hockey League events, and National Hockey League events as well. It's also travelling to some of Canada's biggest and most successful festivals.
By the end of the tour, we expect that one million Canadians will have taken part and will have seen the centennial caravan exhibition. I am told that, to date, Calgary, Ottawa, Toronto, Sherbrooke, Winnipeg, and St. John's have already participated in this wonderful event, and many, many more communities will participate over the next few months.
Thank you.