:
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Good morning to all the members of the committee. It is a pleasure to be here today.
[English]
I'm very happy to be here with Andrew Francis and, of course, the other people from Canadian Heritage. Andrew Francis will assist me in answering any of your more financial questions. Graham Flack is my deputy minister, whom I guess you already had a chance to meet because of the briefing given to the heritage committee earlier this week.
[Translation]
I am also very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you for various reasons, not only to answer your questions but also to continue the collaboration between the committee and our office. I think most of you had the opportunity to meet with the Canadian Heritage officials at a briefing session on the various matters handled by the department. I also think a number of you have read the briefing documents that I have made public. I hope that all those initiatives that foster dialogue and transparency are relevant to you and help you in your work as parliamentarians.
I would like to turn to budget 2016 that was tabled on March 22.
Our department will invest a historic amount of $1.9 billion in the arts, culture and cultural infrastructure. This is the largest investment in arts and culture in the last 30 years. We are probably the only country in the world to make such a massive investment in arts and culture.
The amount of $1.9 billion is broken down as follows.
An amount of $1.26 billion is invested in CBC/Radio-Canada, Telefilm Canada, the NFB and the Canada Council for the Arts.
An amount of $105.9 million over five years is invested in our national museums, of which $6.1 million is invested annually.
[English]
In terms of cultural infrastructure, there's $156.4 million given to a storage facility that will help the Science and Technology Museum, the National Gallery, as well the Canadian Conservation Institute. The National Arts Centre is given $114.9 million. These are just some of the highlights of the cultural infrastructure commitments made to our national museums or national institutes.
There's also $35 million over a period of two years for cultural exports. As you may have seen in the budget, for those who had the chance to read everything pertaining to Canadian Heritage, we will also launch public consultations to develop a strategy regarding cultural exports. I will, of course, answer any of your questions regarding cultural exports.
[Translation]
In terms of the department's 2016-17 main estimates, the overall amount is $1.29 million. Of that amount, $104.6 million are earmarked for the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Let me remind you that, as announced earlier this year, the four themes of the 150th anniversary of Confederation are diversity and inclusion, youth, the environment and reconciliation with aboriginal peoples.
Several signature projects have been announced. By signature projects, I mean pan-Canadian projects. These are interesting projects. There will also be SESQUI domes in 50 communities across the country. Those geodesic domes represent the latest Canadian technology in terms of immersive experience. There will also be a partnership with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra with a view to creating a musical score for the 150th anniversary. Those projects have all been announced. So I will be able to answer any questions you may have about them.
It is also important to note that, for the 150th anniversary, we have launched a project with 191 community foundations across the country, in which we have invested $10 million in partnership with the community foundations. Another amount of $10 million will be raised by various philanthropists, including Jim Balsillie, to create a fund for micro-grants for a number of organizations in the country. Those grants could add up to $15,000.
Furthermore, I would like to tell you about the shift that my team and I have made at Canadian Heritage since our arrival.
[English]
We believe that Canadian Heritage has never been so strategic in a government. Why? It's because we were elected as the government on the basis that we ought to generate growth in our economy.
How do we do that? Well, there are different ways and, of course, the budget highlights different measures to grow the economy. When it comes to growing the economy, we have to invest in innovation. How do you invest in innovation? You do it in different ways, but one of these ways is certainly to make sure to invest in arts and culture.
Why? Well, you have to generate innovation. Innovation doesn't just happen with a snap of the fingers. You need to have the right ecosystem in order for different ideas to emerge and become business ideas or research ideas. The flora and the fauna of that innovation ecosystem are the people, all our stakeholders who are in the arts and culture world. This is why for us it was so strategic to invest $1.9 billion over five years.
I would add to this that when you look at the impact of arts and culture and in general of creative industries, you see that they amount to $47.7 billion of our GDP. That's more than agriculture, forestry, and fisheries all together. This is why we see our role as key to the economy and key to generating innovation and generating growth. Ultimately it will better the lives of Canadians.
The other reason we think that Heritage has never been so strategic is that we think there's an important digital shift happening, affecting all the different parts of our portfolio, including media, entertainment—
The Chair: You have one minute, Minister.
Hon. Mélanie Joly: Yes. Thank you.
—meaning music, and of course, books, films, etc.
I know that right now as a parliamentary committee you're doing an important study on local news. We're very interested in partnering with you to understand the issues and also to know what your recommendations are. This is key for us to understand what's happening with the digital shift, and I'll be launching public consultations on this subject.
I'm here with my team to answer all your questions. There are many other things that relate to many more financial and operational measures, but I can answer all of your questions.
[Translation]
Of course, I am here to answer any questions you may have either about official languages or the support for arts and culture.
Thank you.
:
That's a very good question. Thank you.
Of course, this is not news for anybody around the table or for Canadians, because we campaigned on it, so of course this is part of our campaign commitment. More than that, we believe in the role of a public broadcaster, and I would add that we believe in it because of its importance in making sure that we have strong Canadian diversity and that people around the country have access to information that relates to their region and also to what's happening in the country in general.
We also believe that, because of what's happening in the media world right now and the impact of digital on the media and because of technological changes that can have an impact on how people consume information, we ought to strengthen our public broadcaster and its role.
That's why we have expressed important wishes to the CBC, while of course respecting their independence. That $675 million will support three important priorities that they have also expressed, which are to support more content and, of course, more people developing local content throughout the country; also, to support their digital shift, really helping CBC/Radio-Canada to develop its digital background, maybe through jobs in understanding algorithms and big data—everything that a media organization needs to have to understand all the different ways people are consuming information in this digital age.
[Translation]
Third, in our view, it is clearly fundamental to build the next generation, to create new jobs for young people, precisely in order to ensure the sustainability of CBC/Radio-Canada so that, in 50 years, our public broadcaster is strong.
[English]
These are the three important priorities of CBC/Radio-Canada that we're supporting. This is why the investments that were announced in budget 2016-17 are so important: they really support these three priorities.
:
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'm pleased to be here today to appear before this committee for the first time.
With me today from the Department of Canadian Heritage are the associate deputy minister, Patrick Borbey, and chief financial officer, Andrew Francis.
I'd also like to congratulate all the members on their appointment, and I look forward to working with you all.
By way of background, I'm a two-time Paralympic swimming medalist, an experienced administrator in Canada's sports system, and a human rights lawyer. My mandate as minister allows me to combine two of my main passions: sport and advocacy in action for Canadians with disabilities.
The committee has asked me to speak about the main estimates for 2016-17. Let me give you some highlights.
For the 2016-17 fiscal year, the overall budget for the sport program is just over $206 million. This includes $12 million in operating expenses and $194 million in grants and contributions. In total, this year's budget represents a decrease of $37.6 million from the last year. This is the result of the completion of funding for the Toronto Pan Am and Parapan Am Games. This is very common in the cycle of sport funding when we host an event in Canada.
As stated in my mandate letter in relation to sport and recreation in our country, I am tasked with working with the Minister of Infrastructure and Communities to support the construction of recreational infrastructure to allow more children access to sport and recreation; working with the Minister of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada to support a national strategy to raise awareness for parents, coaches, and athletes about concussion treatment; working with the Minister of Canadian Heritage to champion the inclusion of sport and recreation in government-wide efforts to promote the celebration of Canada 150, with a particular emphasis on the achievements of athletes and people with disabilities; leading the preparation for the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro and other major sport events; and creating greater links between our elite athletes and young Canadians to promote health and achievement amongst young people.
As you can see, I have a very full agenda. I look forward to working with my parliamentary colleagues, my provincial and territory counterparts, our departmental officials, and all the stakeholders across Canada's sport system to meet the needs and expectations of all Canadians in the area of sport and recreation.
As the single largest investor in our country's sport system, the Government of Canada, through Sport Canada, supports all level of sport from recreation all the way up to our high-performance athletes and teams. We have three funding programs: the sport support program, the athlete assistance program, and the hosting program.
The sport support program provides approximately $146 million in funding to 58 national sport organizations, 23 multi-sport organizations, and seven Canadian sport centres and institutes to support programs and services that have a direct impact on athletes and athlete development.
[Translation]
Canada has developed a leading-edge approach to targeted excellence, with the technical expertise provided by Own the Podium. This enables us to focus our resources on programs that give athletes the best chance to win medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The targeted excellence approach has been used for close to a decade. Canada's results at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games have markedly improved during this period, but the quest for medals requires constant re-evaluation.
That is why I think it is timely to examine the impact and effects of the targeted excellence approach across the Canadian sport system. The review I propose will encompass all aspects of the approach, including, but not restricted to, the contributions of Own the Podium.
[English]
In addition, we provide funding through our bilateral agreements with provinces and territories to support programs and services aimed at children and young people as well as under-represented groups.
In particular, I'm committed to making sport more accessible to indigenous people and as a means of personal and community development.
The hosting program, with a budget of approximately $20 million per year, aims to enhance the development of sport excellence and the international profile of sport organizations by helping sport organizations host the Canada Games and approximately 90 international sport events a year in Canada.
[Translation]
Let me mention just one of them. I am excited that the Jeux de la francophonie will be hosted by Moncton-Dieppe in 2021.
Events like these are expected to leave significant sport, economic, social and cultural legacies.
[English]
The athlete assistance program provides approximately $28 million per year in direct monthly support to about 2,000 of Canada's top high-performance athletes to help relieve some of the financial pressures associated with preparing to participate in international sport, including living, training, and education expenses.
Sport is also important to Canadian communities. In budget 2016, we introduced a number of initiatives for social infrastructure, including support for sport and recreation infrastructure. The amount of $150 million will be made available through regional development agencies to upgrade sport and recreation facilities across the country. I'm also pleased to say that sport and recreation projects are now an eligible category under infrastructure programs like the small communities fund.
We make these investments because we know that sport is important to Canadians as individuals for its physical and mental health benefits. Seventy-two percent of Canadians believe that sport is a key contributor to their quality of life. More than five million Canadians belong to national sports organizations. Data shows that 84% of children between the ages of five and 10 participate in sports, both boys and girls. Unfortunately, participation declines with age, especially amongst girls. By their late teens only 58% of girls are still involved in sports compared to 62% of boys. We need to do a better job in the sport system to keep young people involved in sports. Sport facilities are natural gathering places. Hosting sporting events like the Canada Games builds civic pride and community spirit.
[Translation]
Sport is also a good way to integrate newcomers, people with disabilities and others who might otherwise feel they are on the sidelines.
Sport is part of our cultural identity. Sport builds pride in our nation. Our athletes are wonderful role models, especially for our young people, of the dedication and passion that is required to reach for and attain a goal.
At the same time, our athletes are tremendous examples of the benefits of sport and of living a healthy, active life. Many of our common memories of shining Canadian moments are linked to sport. Donovan Bailey's double gold medals in Atlanta, and Sydney Crosby's “golden goal” in Vancouver—I was there—are just a couple of examples.
[English]
In turn, we're looking down the road to Rio to cheer on our athletes as they look to write a new chapter in our country's rich sporting history.
[Translation]
Can our Paralympic swim team dominate the pool the way we did in London?
How many Canadian kids are going to go out in their backyard or local park to emulate the new Olympic hero who inspired them at the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games?
Beyond the Games, it is important that Canada have a strategic approach to engagement in international sport. We will work with international sport bodies to make all of sport open, fair and welcoming and provide all athletes with a level playing field.
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to be part of a government that places so much importance on sport and active communities.
[English]
As I said earlier, sport is one of my great passions. As an athlete, and now as the Minister responsible for sport in Canada, I can assure that we will continue to invest in today's high-performance athletes, as well as in the next generation.
Not only that, we will work across departments to increase access to sport and recreation and make sports programs safer, more accessible, and more inclusive. I thank you for the opportunity to be here today, and hope that I will have your support to make this vision a reality.
I'd now be happy to answer any questions you might have.
:
Absolutely. As was said, the Invictus Games are really a celebration of the efforts and the sacrifice that our vets have made for our country. What it allows us to do is that bridge between active participation in the military and active participation in life.
Here is a tiny little history lesson. The Paralympic movement itself was actually born out of an initiative in the U.K. to help wounded war vets rehabilitate, and they recognized very quickly in the early 20th century that a really impactful way of doing this was by providing sport and recreational opportunities to veterans. That snowballed into what is today a very well-respected and high-performance sport movement around the world.
The Invictus Games allow us to bring together athletes from a number of countries—mainly in the Commonwealth, but around the world—to celebrate the accomplishments of these military men and women, and do it through sport.
If you recall, money was allocated to the Invictus Games through budget 2016, but what they are going to build around, in Toronto in 2017, is both a celebration of sport and a celebration of the contributions of military women and men who serve across the world.
The other thing is that they are going to be hosting two conferences around this event. The first one is the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research conference, which will bring together more than a thousand academics and researchers from around the world. This conference is specifically focused on the mental and physical health of our military, veterans, and their families.
The second is the True Patriot Love foundation's international symposium, which brings together foundations, veterans, advocate groups, and primary caregivers to discuss the state of military families today.
It's something I think we should be very proud, as Canadians, to host next year. I think there is a wonderful symmetry between hosting this event in 2017 and it being our 150th birthday.
:
What we know—as you said, calling it a vacuum—is that it's not enough to invest in athletes who are within four years of their peak performance. We need to look beyond those athletes. We need to look at athletes who might be five to eight years away and figure out the best way to support them in their pursuits. The next-generation funding that was announced was exactly targeted to do just that.
What we're looking at now, and we're talking with stakeholders, is that the money is still there. That money is still in.... I don't know the word, I apologize.
Mr. Patrick Borbey: The fiscal framework.
Hon. Carla Qualtrough: Yes, it's in the fiscal framework.
I apologize; I didn't know the government-speak for it.
It will also be matched by private dollars. Right now we're talking with stakeholders about how to best deliver that money. What's the best organization to house the next-gen funding? Is it Own The Podium? Own The Podium isn't historically in the business of looking at athletes five years out. Is it the Olympic Committee, the Paralympic Committee? Should it be a grants and contributions program that Sport Canada manages?
We're working with stakeholders now. That money is definitely there. I think we're almost near the end of those consultations. I'm personally extremely excited to provide a whole-of-athlete program suite for our athletes, whether it be athletes who are five to eight years out or athletes who are zero to four years out. Then, of course, we need to think of our transitioning athletes. Again, that's where the AAP provides some of that education support.
I'm really excited about that money, and I'm really excited to be able to come back and announce—in the near future, I would say—how we're going to distribute those funds.
:
This is a really important question, something that I'm quite passionate about because, as the mother of a 5-year old girl and a 16-year old girl, I've lived the experience of my daughter losing her love for sport. We lose girls around the age of 14. We need to build systems and we need to create experiences for them where we won't lose them.
One of the things Sport Canada does is fund CAAWS, the Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport and Physical Activity, to the tune of approximately $250,000. CAAWS works with national sport organizations and multi-sport organizations basically to increase awareness about how we can be more inclusive with women and girls in our sport experiences.
It's very interesting to me because of the 1,900 or 2,000 athletes we card through our athlete assistance programs, 50% of them are women. At that level we have a 50% representation in sport.
What's happening? How is it that we lose them, but then at the high performance level we seem to have them? I'm interested in figuring that out and it's something that we're turning our minds to as we look at being more inclusive.
The other piece I'd like to talk about is your comment about the kind of sport experience our girls are having. We need to be creative and inclusive. We need to provide integrated opportunities where girls get to play with boys, but we also need to respect the fact that some girls like to play with girls and that the experience is different when you play in a girl's league than when you play in a co-ed league.
The more the variety and the range of sport experiences we can provide our girls the better. We need to be mindful not to lose them.
What kind of good sport experience will keep them in the game longer? We know, as I said in my opening remarks, that by a certain age they're no longer experiencing sport at the same levels as boys.
As you know I did swim in the Paralympic Games and I can tell you all very seriously that it changed my life. As a person with a disability, I was quite good at sport in my youth and then at some point the fact that I can't see very well—I'm legally blind—caught up to me. I wasn't performing as well as I had when I was younger, and that was when I found Paralympic sport and a system of sport that levelled the playing field for me. I was competing against other athletes who couldn't see, instead of competing with athletes could and who had started to beat me. As you can appreciate, in swimming the non-visually impaired athletes were beating me by hundredths of a second because they could see the wall and I couldn't. I fell in love with the Paralympic movement and continued volunteering after my retirement, and ended up being president of the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
So much has changed since I competed in the Paralympic Games. When I swam for Canada, my parents had to pay for my uniform. Uniforms for the Paralympic team weren't funded, and that wasn't that long ago in the history of this movement. Now the Government of Canada has an equality policy whereby Olympic and Paralympic athletes are funded equally and equitably. I would make that distinction, because sometimes it costs a little more to support someone with a disability and the Government of Canada has programs in place to make sure that that additional support and care are provided, both on the personal side but also on the sport technical side. For example, a totally blind runner will have to run with a guide. That guide also receives support so they can train regularly with this athlete, or bike regularly with them if they are a cyclist. It's really fantastic. We've come a long way. Do we have further to go? Absolutely. Is the television coverage the same. Not quite yet, but it's a lot better than it was.
When you think about movements, and I would say that as much as it's a sport movement, the Paralympics is also an important social movement internationally. I'm very proud that Canada has the policies and programs that we have for equitable treatment of our athletes. You will never hear me nor any of the Sport Canada officials say “Olympic” without also saying “Paralympic”. We fund our national teams equitably in all para sports. We have encouraged the national sport and multi-sport organizations to have Paralympic and para sport representation within their leadership and government models.
As I say, we've come a long way, but my point is also that we do have a lot further to go. I'm certainly proud of how far we've come.
:
That's a good question.
I'm excited about Rio for a couple of reasons. First of all, we're in a bit of a transition year. Many of our athletes retired after London, so we have some really new and exciting faces that we're going to see for the first time on the international stage. We have so many team sports that have qualified. Perhaps historically we haven't been as lucky in having that many teams. We have a lot of female teams, including women's field hockey and women's wheelchair basketball.
I think our athletes are ready. Our athletes are always going to be as ready as they can be. Quite frankly, regardless of the systems that are in place for our athletes, excellence is just part of their DNA, and they're going to be as ready as they can be. Our job is to support them as much as we can.
I think we're doing that. I think Own the Podium is doing that, and I think the national sport organizations are doing that. I think we're going to have some breakout performances in Rio, both on the Olympic side and on the Paralympic side. I'm not sure what the medal count will be. I think we're in a year of transition, and I wouldn't want to speculate. That's not my job. It's up to the COC and Own the Podium to make those predictions, but I'll be there.
I think we need to remember that qualifying for the Olympic or Paralympic Games is pretty darned impressive. About this focus on medals, on the one hand, I understand, as a competitor and as someone who went there and a couple of times who said, “Oh, so close”.... But being 12th in the world, being on the Olympic team and wearing that jacket for Canada, that's an impressive accomplishment in and of itself. We need to celebrate all of our athletes who make these teams and, as we sit on our couches and judge, remember that maybe 12th isn't such a big deal, but 12th in the world in any sport, in anything, is pretty darned impressive.
Now we will go to the votes. We are going to vote on the main estimates of 2016-17.
CANADA COUNCIL FOR THE ARTS
ç
Vote 1—Payments under section 18 of the Canada Council for the Arts Act..........$182,347,387
(Vote 1 agreed to)
CANADIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION
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Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$927,306,798
ç
Vote 5—Working capital..........$4,000,000
ç
Vote 10—Capital expenditures..........$106,717,000
(Votes 1, 5, and 10 agreed to)
ç
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$183,944,057
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Vote 5—Grants and contributions..........$1,084,961,970
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to)
CANADIAN MUSEUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
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Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$21,700,000
(Vote 1 agreed to)
CANADIAN MUSEUM OF HISTORY
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Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$66,199,477
(Vote 1 agreed to)
CANADIAN MUSEUM OF NATURE
ç
Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$26,129,112
(Vote 1 agreed to)
CANADIAN MUSEUM OF IMMIGRATION AT PIER 21
ç
Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$7,700,000
(Vote 1 agreed to)
CANADIAN RADIO-TELEVISION AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
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Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$5,072,595
(Vote 1 agreed to)
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES OF CANADA
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Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$94,905,525
ç
Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$11,937,824
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to)
NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE CORPORATION
ç
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$79,397,056
(Vote 1 agreed to)
NATIONAL BATTLEFIELDS COMMISSION
ç
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$6,461,761
(Vote 1 agreed to)
NATIONAL CAPITAL COMMISSION
ç
Vote 1—Operating expenditures..........$66,412,180
ç
Vote 5—Capital expenditures..........$22,380,000
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to)
ç
Vote 1—Program expenditures..........$61,894,820
(Vote 1 agreed to)
NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA
ç
Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$35,888,410
ç
Vote 5—Payment for acquisition of objects for the Collection and other costs attributable to this activity..........$8,000,000
(Votes 1 and 5 agreed to)
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ç
Vote 1—Operating and capital expenditures..........$59,979,776
(Vote 1 agreed to)
ç
Vote 1—Payments for the purposes set out in the Telefilm Canada Act..........$95,453,551
(Vote 1 agreed to)
The Chair: Shall I report the main estimates 2016-17 to the House?
Some hon. members: Agreed.
The Chair: I want to thank you very much.
Can we have a motion to adjourn?
An hon. member: I so move.
The Chair: Thank you, Mr. Van Loan,
The meeting is adjourned.