HALIFAX, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2017

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY

5:20 P.M.

CHAIRMAN

Ms. Suzanne Lohnes-Croft

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Order. The Subcommittee of the Whole on Supply will come to order.

            We will be doing the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage today. We’ll start with introductions.

            [The committee members introduced themselves.]

            Resolution E3 - Resolved, that a sum not exceeding $88,046,000 be granted to the Lieutenant Governor to defray expenses in respect of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, pursuant to the Estimate, and the business plan of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia be approved.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Minister, would you introduce your staff and yourself and give your opening remarks.

            HON. LEO GLAVINE: I’m certainly pleased to be here to highlight the work of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and to speak about our priorities for the year ahead.

            Before getting started, I want to introduce members of the senior team who are joining me here today. On my left is Deputy Minister Tracey Taweel, and to my right is Rebecca Doucett, the Manager of Financial Services. Behind me are Kathleen Trott, Executive Director of Policy and Corporate Services; Elizabeth MacDonald, Director of Communications; and Meredith Cowan, Director of Strategic Initiatives. I believe that is who is here with us today.

            The mandate and work of Communities, Culture and Heritage is fundamentally about investing in the people of Nova Scotia, their communities, businesses, ideas, arts, culture, heritage, learning, health, and well-being. When we invest in these areas, we strengthen our province and provide new opportunities for economic growth while also ensuring that we have strong, happy, empowered, and healthy citizens from birth to well into their latter years.

            In fiscal year 2018-19, 70 per cent of the CCH budget will be invested directly into communities through our various programs. I might say there are some charitable organizations that would like to have that figure of 70 per cent investment. It’s very strong. This represents about $61 million flowing to community libraries and museums, recreation facilities, arts and culture organizations, professional and aspiring artists, businesses that want to make their premises more accessible and welcoming, organizations that are working to reduce poverty, and so forth.

            It was just over a year ago that we launched Nova Scotia’s first Culture Action Plan, which guides our every decision, priority, investment, and action. The plan is guiding us forward to ensure Nova Scotia is a recognized leader as a place where cultural identity, expression, and economy prosper; a place where all people honour and embrace our province’s diversity and heritage and benefit from leveraging our creative strengths; a place that is known for strong, empowered and vibrant communities; and a place with a strong, creative economy. We are working to make Nova Scotia a leader in cultural stewardship, and we are ensuring more Nova Scotians have access to opportunities for healthy, active living.

            With the Culture Action Plan, we also committed to sharing more stories about Nova Scotians, especially cultures that are under-represented in our current museum system. We are addressing systemic racism, advancing cultural diversity, and increasing initiatives to promote, preserve, and celebrate our Mi’kmaq culture and heritage.

            One year after its launch, I am proud to say that we have made significant progress in implementing many of the priorities identified in the Culture Action Plan. For example, this past January, we launched the Culture Innovation Fund, which is investing in initiatives and projects that use culture in new and innovative ways to address social issues and opportunities. This new fund is available to not-for-profit organizations, libraries, museums, First Nations communities, and social enterprises. It is intended to help them deliver programs and services in their local communities. Registered Nova Scotia businesses and municipalities can also submit proposals in collaboration or partnership with these organizations. We’ll be announcing the first recipients of these grants in the coming weeks.

[5:30 p.m.]

            We also launched the Small Business ACCESS-Ability Program, which is helping to make businesses and our communities more inclusive and welcoming. It is important that we all work together to ensure that the needs of persons with disabilities are met in our communities and by Nova Scotia businesses. Programs like these are vital in ensuring we meet their needs. Again, we will be announcing the first recipients of these grants in the coming weeks.

            We worked in collaboration with the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre to present This is What I Wish You Knew, a special exhibit which explores Indigenous self-identity through clay tiles created by community members from the urban Aboriginal community in Halifax. The project builds upon recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 2015. The fundamental theme behind the tiles communicates the diversity, strength and courage of our Indigenous population in the Halifax region.

            We took action through an investment in the Centre for Equitable Library Access to ensure that Nova Scotians who are visually impaired or those with other print disabilities have additional access to books and materials in a variety of alternative formats.

            We are investing in culture, programming and supporting infrastructure throughout the province to ensure our artists and artisans have spaces to collaborate and create. For example, we supported the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design, now known as Craft Nova Scotia, with the costs of refurbishing and upgrading their studios and the various tools used in those studios. The courses held in these studios managed by Craft Nova Scotia almost always sell out and provide an important facility for artisans looking to experiment or enhance a facet of their artistic skills. This refurbishment ensures that the studio and equipment can meet this growing demand while fostering innovation and growth within the artisan community.

            We also launched a Building Vibrant Communities Grant program, which provides community-based organizations that are working to reduce the cycle of poverty with access to money to build on their existing efforts and implement new innovative approaches with a particular focus on initiatives that ensure Nova Scotians have adequate access to food, transportation, and supporting youth. The Building Vibrant Communities program will continue in fiscal year 2018-19 with a goal to help build healthy and vibrant communities, reduce the effects of poverty and help Nova Scotians break the very cycle of poverty.

            We will continue our work to attract and support major events to the province. We recognize that events deliver significant economy and social benefits. Events also generate new money, help our communities and community organizations build capacity, leave legacy infrastructure, provide learnings and best practices, and help to attract first-time visitors to the province.

            For example, we supported the successful bid to host the 2022 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Dartmouth, which will bring over 2,000 participants from over 70 countries to Nova Scotia. We have invested in infrastructure at Lake Banook which will help Nova Scotia host the upcoming Pan American Canoe Sprint Championships in September, bringing more than 250 athletes from all over the world to our province.

            We are currently working with the Mi’kmaq Sport Council on a bid to bring the North American Indigenous Games to Halifax in 2020. If successful, it would be the largest multi-sport event ever hosted in Nova Scotia.

            In Sydney, we proudly supported the successful bid which will bring the Scotties Tournament of Hearts to Cape Breton Island in 2019.

            These events provide an opportunity to attract new visitors to our province, bringing in new money and providing a platform for our unique culture and heritage. Our government is also committed to strengthening smaller community festivals and events across the province, and we have made changes to our funding program to help organizers secure long-term success.

            Just a few weeks ago, I hosted the first Vibrant, Active Nova Scotia Symposium, which was the first step in our work to ensure Nova Scotians have more opportunities to be active and healthy. The Government of Canada is currently working with the provincial and territorial departments responsible for sport, physical activity, and recreation to develop a common vision on physical activity to ensure all Canadians are active to reduce sedentary living. The vision, entitled Let’s Get Moving, will be released later this year. I also plan to lead work to develop a Nova Scotia-specific strategy which will increase opportunities for healthy active living. These are just a few examples of the department’s work over the past 12 months.

            In the coming year, we will continue to implement the Culture Action Plan and to invest in communities. I want to take a moment to share some of our priorities for 2018-19. In the coming week, we will issue a request for proposals to develop a project proposal and business case for a new cultural hub on the Halifax Waterfront. This new cultural hub will include a provincial art gallery, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, and an exciting new public space on the Halifax Waterfront.

            Nova Scotia is fortunate to have one of our country’s best provincial art collections. A new cultural hub will serve as a dynamic and iconic new space for our gallery while inspiring future artists, through education and programming, and serving as a place for Nova Scotians and visitors alike to gather and be inspired for generations to come. The proposed cultural hub will help position Nova Scotia as a world leader in the visual arts while creating a new place to celebrate our culture. The proposal, which is expected to be completed this fall, will be used to inform next steps and final decisions.

            We will begin work to modernize the province’s Multiculturalism Act. In doing this work, we will engage communities, our partners, and stakeholders to ensure that this vital piece of legislation is updated so that it reflects the breadth and depth of our province’s diversity. We will continue our work to address systemic racism and support the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs as it introduces a strategy and action plan in response to the United Nations Decade for Persons of African Descent. Our work to address systemic racism will include a focus on the African Nova Scotian population specifically and will also include a focus on other marginalized groups. Our work will include increased community engagement and the creation of a new position at Communities, Culture and Heritage to coordinate our work to address systemic racism.

            I’m also especially proud that the CCH budget for 2018-19 includes an additional $710,000 to strengthen the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs so that it can expand its important work, especially in rural areas, work that is helping to make a positive change in our province. Madam Chairman, $500,000 of this budget will flow directly to African Nova Scotian communities for programming and services. We will also create two new community outreach positions that will be based in the Valley and Pictou-Antigonish areas.

            As you are aware, one of our priorities of a government and within CCH and African Nova Scotian Affairs is to address systemic racism. Racism will continue to exist unless we intentionally act to eliminate its causes. Addressing this truth and working to eliminate systemic racism is what my government has committed to do.

            We know this will take time and collective effort. It requires all of us, every Nova Scotian, to put aside our differences, to acknowledge the existence of racism and its impacts, and to work together to address and eliminate it. All Nova Scotians deserve to be treated with dignity, equality, and respect, and to have access to the amazing opportunities our province has to offer.

            We will continue our work to develop a plan to ensure the sustainability and continued relevance of our libraries which also reflects the current needs of our citizens. I know you all value community libraries as much as I do, and they provide an important service to Nova Scotians, a service we support and one that helps build stronger communities.

            However, it’s clear that the current funding model is not working. We are working in partnership with libraries to develop a new model. I am pleased with how well this work is going and with the collaboration that is happening. I am confident that together, we will determine the best path forward for our libraries.

            In the meantime, while this work is happening, we are taking action to ensure libraries have the operating budgets they require. We have maintained annual operating funding for libraries at $14.4 million, and about a month ago, we provided libraries with an additional $474,000 in funding. In addition, libraries can apply for additional funding from specific programs, such as the Culture Innovation Fund. We are taking a leadership role to ensure Nova Scotians have a sustainable and dynamic library system that best meets their needs.

            We will continue to invest now and in the future in production of Nova Scotia film and television content. The Screenwriters Development Fund, launched this past winter, will provide $262,000 in fiscal year 2018-19 to develop Nova Scotia filmmakers, writers, and producers of local content, and to encourage diversity and gender parity.

            My colleague Minister Delorey and the Office of Gaelic Affairs will launch a new Gaelic licence plate which recognizes Nova Scotia Gaels and will invest money in Gaelic initiatives. We will staff a new Mi’kmaq cultural liaison position at CCH to facilitate connections between Mi’kmaq artists, crafters, creators, and organizations; and government programs, services, and opportunities.

            We will continue our work to create communities that are strong, healthy, inclusive, empowered, and vibrant through programs like the Community Facilities Improvement Program, CFIP, which connects people, organizations, municipal partners, and others to key pieces of infrastructure that help to define their communities. Through CFIP, as it is commonly referred to, we will invest just under $1 million in fiscal 2018-19 to support community projects from one end of the province to the other, projects like the Polish Village Hall in Sydney, built in 1949.

            It is where the St. Michael’s Polish Association Benefit Society carries out its work to promote and preserve Polish culture and heritage in Cape Breton. This work includes cultural workshops, presentations, research, and interviews. We will be providing just over $17,000 to help the society make improvements to the hall, including a new roof. Investments like these help to ensure these important community gathering places and spaces can continue to operate.

            We will continue our work to ensure Nova Scotians have access to sport and recreation opportunities. For example, we are working closely with the Department of Natural Resources and community trail associations to develop a trail system to ensure our citizens have a robust system that meets their needs. Nova Scotia has an excellent trail system which Nova Scotians use and enjoy. However, there are still gaps. We know that trails enhance our quality of life, help people remain active, and build strong communities, so we will continue to invest in this area.

[5:45 p.m.]

            Another program which helps ensure Nova Scotians have access to sport and recreation opportunities is the Recreation Facility Development grant program. It provides funding to community groups, municipalities, and other not-for-profit organizations to develop facilities in order to increase public participation in sport and physical recreation, facilities such as recreation centres and halls, pools, arenas, athletic fields, parks and playgrounds, trails, and other facilities that promote sport and physical recreation. In 2018-19, we will invest $1.8 million in community sport and recreation facilities through this program.

            We will also work with Sport Nova Scotia and other key partners to support our young athletes as they head to Red Deer in February to represent Nova Scotia at the 2019 Canada Winter Games.

            We know it’s important for Nova Scotians to have access to affordable, accessible and reliable transportation in their communities. This is especially important for older adults and our most vulnerable citizens, who rely on community transportation to help them stay connected to their jobs, to health care services, and to social events. We are developing a plan which will improve access to community transportation across the province to help strengthen our communities and our economy. We will invest $2.39 million in fiscal 2018-19 to ensure we continue to expand community transportation services throughout the province.

            We recently announced a community transportation project in the Town of Bridgewater which will help the town continue to provide much-needed transportation options for citizens who are unable to drive or do not own their own vehicle. Projects like this help ensure our citizens can access services such as health care, travel to a job or to school, and stay connected to their communities.

            I’ll add a little bit here, Madam Chairman and colleagues. When this was announced, the community was struggling to have sufficient money to see if this could become a reality, to give it enough time to entrench a route people could access. When it was announced, the mayor said, this will make the difference. It brought him to tears to see that now this route has an opportunity to gain a foothold in his community. This is a big piece which is emerging, community transportation.

            Madam Chairman, 2018 marks the 150^th anniversary of the Museum Nova Scotia system. We are currently developing a plan to mark and celebrate this milestone and encourage Nova Scotians and visitors alike to rediscover our heritage through our museum system. This year, we will also continue to invest in community facilities that serve as venues for preserving our culture and creative works because we recognize that culture is a key element in creating healthy, diverse, and vibrant communities. For example, we are working closely with the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, in Canning, where we have invested $237,000 in renovations to bolster the sustainability of their facilities and to facilitate their ongoing growth and development. Our investment also leveraged additional investment from the federal government.

            Investing in our arts and culture sector is one of the key priorities of the department. There are several programs this sector can access. The $2 million Creative Industries Fund is one of these programs. It leverages investments from business and other provincial-federal partners to grow export capacity and create sustainable economic growth for Nova Scotia while also supporting growth of the arts and cultural sector. This, in turn, grows our creative economy.

            A great example of the impact of the Creative Industries Fund is Nimbus Publishing. They recently announced an expansion after experiencing significant growth through a grant from this fund. We invested $222,000 in Nimbus Publishing to help them attend more international book fairs, hire additional staff, and, most importantly, tap into the lucrative international market. Nimbus is planning to publish 25 new titles this spring, which I understand will be the biggest list in the company’s history.

            With the help of this fund, 2b theatre company in Halifax has taken their success beyond our borders to New York City. Their production Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is currently running off Broadway and recently received the New York Times Critic’s Pick designation, a powerful accolade that speaks volumes about the strength of Nova Scotia’s arts and culture sector and our export potential.

            I believe it’s due to staff at CCH that the export opportunities in our province’s arts and culture sector are countless. Our artists, musicians, playwrights, authors, and publishers are some of our province’s richest resources, resources we will continue to invest in. Our commitment to our arts and culture sector and Nova Scotia’s creative economy is evident in the work of Arts Nova Scotia.

            Through Arts Nova Scotia, we support professional artists. In doing so, we not only strengthen the arts sector and create jobs, we also help build strong and vibrant communities. Arts Nova Scotia oversees a budget of $2.8 million in public funding that goes directly to support programs for professional artists and arts organizations, arts education programs, and a number of arts awards and prizes. They also have access to an additional $450,000 through Support4Culture programming.

            I would like to touch on one of Arts Nova Scotia’s investments that I am especially proud of. Together with its counterparts across Atlantic Canada, Arts Nova Scotia created the biannual Petapan: First Light Symposium, a gathering of Indigenous artists and arts administrators from Atlantic Canada. The event was founded to create stronger connections between Indigenous artists and arts funders and foster a spirit of collaboration within the Indigenous arts community. The inaugural event was held in Millbrook, and Arts Nova Scotia proudly invested $50,000. A second gathering was held in New Brunswick. Next year’s event will be held in Newfoundland and Labrador. The event has raised the profile of funding opportunities for Indigenous artists. That has meant an increase in funding applications, enquiries to program officers, and ultimately, successful grant applications.

            Advancing cultural diversity is also a pillar of the Culture Action Plan. I want to acknowledge the staff who work at the province’s cultural offices. They work hard every day to make sure the voices of Acadians, the Gaelic community, and African Nova Scotians are heard. Investments in their communities are making a difference. In the coming year, we will continue to strengthen the Offices of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, Gaelic Affairs, and African Nova Scotian Affairs.

            These are just a few examples of the work we will undertake this year to build strong, vibrant, inclusive, and healthy communities; to create jobs and grow Nova Scotia’s exports and strengthen our creative economy; to combat systemic racism; and to preserve, promote, celebrate, and leverage our province’s culture and heritage. We know that our investments are making a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians and are contributing to strengthening the economy.

            Madam Chairman, our research tells us that our investment in the arts and culture sector as well as the sports sector is paying off and yielding great benefit for Nova Scotians. Culture and sport contributed $1.03 billion to the Nova Scotia economy in 2016. Culture and sport job numbers in Nova Scotia have grown over the same seven years, reaching just under 17,000 in 2016. These sectors are economic drivers, and there is tremendous opportunity for growth especially in the areas of tourism and export.

            In the coming year, we will continue to make strategic investments to strengthen these sectors and, in doing so, ensure our province has strong and empowered communities which can meet the needs of our citizens through libraries, sport and recreation facilities, community spaces, museums, events, and festivals.

            Madam Chairman, as I mentioned at the start of my remarks, 70 per cent of our 2018-19 budget will be invested directly into Nova Scotian communities through our various programs and services. Our budget estimate for fiscal year 2018-19 is $88,046,000, an increase of $3,751,000 over 2017-18, mainly due to the budget increase for the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs as well as the work we are doing through building vibrant communities, the ACCESS-Ability Grant Program, and our community transportation work.

            We know that our investments are making a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians and are contributing to strengthening our economy. Every investment we are making can be tied directly to priorities and objectives outlined in the Nova Scotia Culture Action Plan. Every investment is helping to bring people and communities together, promote healthy lifestyles, and support economic growth.

            I am proud to serve as the Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage. Every day, I witness first-hand the passion and commitment of the CCH staff and the hundreds of community organizations we work with. We share a common vision: we all want our communities to be strong, healthy, empowered, and vibrant. We all want a strong culture sector and creative economy. We all want to ensure our communities are empowered to develop community-based solutions and initiatives that best meet their needs.

            In closing, I want to say how proud I am of the CCH team. They are a passionate and committed team that is making a true difference in the lives of Nova Scotians through their work. We are fortunate to work closely with arts, culture, and sports organizations; heritage experts; libraries; museums; municipalities; and citizens who each bring great ideas to help build a stronger province. I want to thank them for their ongoing collaboration and partnership. Each day, I may add, I discover and see people who, for one reason or another, have found their careers blossoming at CCH. The commitment that they make and the quality of work is something that is a pleasure to be part of.

            With that, Madam Chairman, I would now be pleased to take questions from my colleagues.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Thank you, minister. You must have been up past your bedtime writing that.

            We will turn it over to the PC caucus.

            We have been letting this flow very casually. As long as we can keep order, we shall do that. I will just address you once and let it flow back and forth.

            Minister, if you want to turn off your microphone so that if you are talking with your colleagues there, it won’t be picked up, I will address you. We will let the member who is asking questions flow freely.

            Mr. Harrison, for the PC caucus.

            MR. LARRY HARRISON: Thank you, Madam Chairman. I am sure if I’m out of order, you will bring me back quickly. That’s good.

            Minister, I have a ton of financial questions. I might get to those a little bit down the road. It’s not my forte.

            I was jotting down a lot of the things you were mentioning. I must admit, these are great things for Nova Scotia. To me, this is one of the most important departments, actually, because it creates an atmosphere in which people live here in this province.

            I’m not going to say this about all Americans, but there are a lot of Americans who see themselves as a unique race. When they see themselves as a unique race, they forget where they came from because they are not unique. They are built on so many different countries around the world, as we are. To celebrate that right across the board is so very important to the welfare of this province. When other folks come in, they bring so much of their culture, and a lot of this can add to ours, whatever that may be.

[6:00 p.m.]

            I can’t get enough travelling in. I want to see the whole world. The reason I want to see the whole world is because I want to see the cultures. I want to take from those cultures what will help me live better. I am seeing that as part of the department’s responsibility, to get all of these cultures together and to take out what is best in them.

            I’m going to ask - I have so much down here. I want to ask one thing about the businesses. You mentioned small businesses and how you are going to try and tie them into being open and co-operative and so on. Could you just give me a little bit more information on that?

            MR. GLAVINE: I also want to start off by saying that it is always a pleasure to work with you, as the critic for the Progressive Conservative Party. You bring positive requests and questions to me, and I regard those.

            Having lots of questions is a good place to be. The team here will do their best to respond 100 per cent to you.

            The small business accessibility is part of that larger vision that by 2030, we would really like to claim that we are the most accessible province in Canada. As you know, our Speaker has been a leader, just by that public position that he occupies. He has wanted all of us to embrace a deeper commitment to this. I believe the way to do it is through policy and good programs that are backed up by investment. The dollar value, right off the top, is $1 million. We are going to get a groundswell of applications for this. We need to give every Nova Scotian who is wheelchair bound, in a scooter, or whatever it may be the ability to get into the place of business that they want to go to.

            I remember the first opportunity I had to experience being in a wheelchair. It was a half-day or a day-long program where MLAs were challenged to see what the barriers were in their communities and in their physical area. I got in a wheelchair, and I didn’t have to go too far down the sidewalk, which was fine. But to get into the Tim Hortons in my community, I had to be able to do a bit of a popup wheelie, which many people would certainly not be able to do. I had to get help because it was first time in a wheelchair. It was a four-inch lip that I had to overcome. Immediately when I went back to my office, I wrote the owner. I said, as soon as you can do this, or certainly when you do renovations, make sure that people can safely and quickly access your premises.

            We have all kinds of small businesses that have not been part of this or had the ability to make that kind of investment. I know that as MLAs, we have asked to be leaders with barrier-free premises, and I think that is a wonderful initiative. What we now have to do, I believe, is strengthen it so that we actually write that code, barrier-free premises, and be leaders in our province to say, yes, it’s an investment, but we’re going to help you. We’re going to allow you to get some support from the province.

            I know that immediately, we’re joining with the Rick Hansen Foundation. He was here recently. We made an announcement along with the Nova Scotia Community College and their President, Don Bureaux, to have a course put on at the Nova Scotia Community College that will allow people to become educated and technically proficient on creating barrier-free environments from an architectural point of view, even home planning, construction industry, and the tradespeople so that we do it right from the word go and not have to redo it.

            I’ll just finish off on this, so you can get more questions in - the other piece also is community accessibility. We all know that many of our community halls, whether you go down to the Legion, the Lions Club, or the Kinsmen Club, now have ramps, have barrier-free washrooms. That Community ACCESS-Ability Program is a $1-million fund. It’s a clear, complete attempt to expand and widen every facility that a Nova Scotian needs to access so that they have the ability to do so quickly and safely. The types of eligible facilities, for example, are community halls, meeting facilities, libraries, community parks, playgrounds, cultural and heritage facilities, and group homes. That grant is up to a maximum of $10,000.

            MR. HARRISON: The major expenditure - maybe it’s all the expenditure - is going to be to give people access?

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes. For example, it’s going to include ramps, power door operators, lever door handles, barrier free washrooms, elevators and/or lifts, audio signals and loops and lighting, colour contrasting for the visually impaired, and accessible portions of community playgrounds. It really is a very wide-spectrum program.

            MR. HARRISON: If you ever come out to my house in a wheelchair, that would be your biggest obstruction, about one inch. There you go. That’s the way we made it.

            Is this going to be accessible to a lot of rural communities that do not have up-to-date buildings? They’re old, and a lot of them have steps you wouldn’t believe to get into.

            MR. GLAVINE: I would have to commend you, member, because that’s probably one of the best, strongest, questions you may ask here tonight - not judging right away.

            That being said, it is absolutely so important that we move this across the province. In fact, there are many small businesses that don’t have that $7,000 or $8,000 to redo their washroom, for example, which is a very expensive retrofit. We want this to move right across the province and to remove physical barriers in the built environment for persons, customers, and employees to access business services.

            That’s so key too. We’re going to find more employees who need to have access. In fact, this has inhibited people with visual deficiencies or in a wheelchair.

            Construction renovation projects are up to $50,000, design and permit fees are maximum 15 per cent of construction costs, and accessibility certification is up to two-thirds of eligible expenses to a maximum of $25,000 per business. This is going to be a game-changer. In my community of Kingston-Greenwood, there are small businesses, mom-and-pop shops, that eke out a living. They really don’t have that money at one time to invest, maybe over a period of years. To get that two-thirds is going to be a phenomenal boost to them, and this is designed for small towns and villages to truly make them accessible.

            All you have to do is even look at people coming into our province as visitors. A number now who come in are in wheelchairs and have disabilities. They want to access our premises.

            MR. HARRISON: Have you had many applications to this point?

            MR. GLAVINE: Without specifics, because we have to announce these, yes, we will expand to that full $1 million. We have had an overwhelming response to date. We’ll be starting to get these out to the public.

            MR. HARRISON: Sticking to the rural theme, you mentioned rural transportation. What’s that going to look like?

            MR. GLAVINE: We have had the first two announcements. First of all, I would have to say that this is really an overarching reach to make sure that the edges of our large communities and our rural areas really get an opportunity to engage in the community which provides services for them.

            This is tied into SHIFT and the seniors’ program. We decided in Communities, Culture and Heritage that this is a community-building initiative. We have taken on the role of spearheading it and putting out the applications. This has been the work of about five different departments, and Communities, Culture and Heritage are the ones who are now orchestrating this program.

            We have had two announcements to date. The one in Bridgewater, I referred to in my opening remarks. We had $500,000 go to a program that was ready in CBRM to expand the community transportation into areas that were ready to see that service provided.

            A lot of the dollars in the first year came over from Community Services, DCS, a good amount of this money. The dollar value for 2018-19 is $2.39 million. As I said earlier, it fits in perfectly with the goals of SHIFT.

            We’re hearing more and more, and possibly you know this from your earlier career, that social isolation and loneliness are real factors that negatively impact on peoples lives. The more we can have Nova Scotians engaged in their communities, in whatever services, programs, and socialization - this is what this community transportation is designed to do.

[6:15 p.m.]

            We have some good models that exist now. We know the cost of operating them year over year, but we want to reach that partnership of sustainability. Transport de Clare has been a service now for 20 years and has really refined rural transportation in the Acadian area of our province. Of course, the late Claredon Robicheau was a leader in developing this rural transportation network.

            This is where we’re putting a major focus: rural communities, people living in poverty, and older Nova Scotians. These are the three areas that we will focus on. There are services that pay for themselves or with some municipal support, but this is another area that we are branching out into.

            MR. HARRISON: I’m pleased to hear that because that’s the group that really needs that kind of transportation. You hear the old stories about the railway coming through the communities, and all you had to do was hop on the train in any rural area and get to Halifax, for instance, if they needed to get there. All that’s gone now. The railway pretty well doesn’t exist. There aren’t buses anymore that go to the smaller communities. The thrust is really not to do for them but to meet with them and get them organized and find a solution that works in that particular community.

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s exactly it, member. In fact, to make sure that we had an underground grassroots view of the world where the need was, Bill Greenlaw and Deputy Minister D’Entremont, heading up the SHIFT seniors’ program in our department, did their meetings. They went around the province to look at what is working and, more importantly, where the needs are that communities have.

            I think this is a wonderful start, to have about $2.4 million that will be there this year. You will see further announcements like we have had in CBRM and in Bridgewater to enable some of the existing providers. Let’s say it’s Point to Point in Kings County, which is a door-to-door service where they will pick up somebody for dialysis or a doctor’s appointment. The more we can expand on that - people who need it for work for example, young people for education, or whatever the case may be. This will be new and expanded.

            This is not just giving the monies to an existing service. We want expansion into those rural areas and some targeted and specialized routes that will enable rural Nova Scotians to engage in community life.

            MR. HARRISON: I really mean this sincerely - good luck and keep moving on this one because, as you say, it is a very, very important program for rural areas.

            You mentioned racism. Unfortunately, it still exists. There’s no question about it - it does still exist. Can you just tell me some of the initiatives that you have to bring the groups together, rather than different pockets?

            MR. GLAVINE: The work of ANSA, African Nova Scotian Affairs, of course, comes under the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. They’re what I consider a workhorse part of our department. They have often had to go the extra mile and put in the extra time to meet many of the needs that have surfaced, especially in light of the Culture Action Plan, the Decade for People of African Descent, the land clarification work, and the Home for Colored Children Restorative Inquiry. All of these have brought the very defined needs of those communities to the surface.

            We are expanding ANSA by a significant amount. Two of the positions, in fact, are going to be field workers who will go into communities that have been very underserved and marginalized for far too long. There are about 50 such communities in the province.

            I was just recently writing a foreword for a book, and it’s a book about coming to Nova Scotia. I’m no longer a “come from away” since I have been here for about 50 years. That being said, one of the areas he wanted me to speak about was my career and how I got into it.

            When I was at St. F.X. there was an X-Project, tutoring in communities like Lincolnville and Sunnyville - areas where I know that the deputy minister and our team have done some recent work - to understand their needs, especially around land claims. We are now going to have field workers who will be there on the ground working against the tide of marginalization and racism that they have experienced and, unfortunately, still do today.

            One of the areas that I have seen in my work as an MLA - Kings County, a leader in the country, decided that they would make anti-discrimination, anti-racism, and human rights a designated position in their county, especially to start with that subtle racism around employment. They wanted to break down the barriers to employment in Kings County. For a number of years, they have had a very defined policy and a very defined program. It took a leader with those skills and abilities to coordinate such a program.

            We are going to hire a coordinator who will work directly in the deputy’s office to lead work in addressing systemic racism and to create awareness, education, and programming that will counter those elements that are unfortunately rooted in our society. This is an investment in a position that I am truly excited about. It’s long overdue, long overdue. I give a lot of credit to my colleague Minister Ince, who was in the department and set the groundwork for some of this to be enabled and to come forward.

            We have to take direct action here, as I said in my opening remarks. Coming out of the restorative report on the Home for Colored Children, we know that this is not so much about - yes, lessons from the past, but it is about how we can chart that new course for the future. We need somebody who will direct that work and discern what is needed in our communities.

            MR. HARRISON: It’s almost like a two-tier project. The first part is to take all the different groups - the French, African Nova Scotians, and people from all the different countries - make them strong in themselves and to be a part of the province in a healthy way. The next step would be to get them all to recognize each other’s strengths. That’s what I mean about a two-tier thing. Take one group and do what you can with them to make them strong and make them welcomed, and then they have to deal with all the other groups as well so that we have a stronger province instead of all the groups being kind of separate.

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s a very good point because one of the real deficiencies in our communities, in fact, has very often been that modelling that we need. I especially felt that it has been, and still is, a huge weakness in our education system that we don’t have those models from the African Nova Scotian community, the Mi’kmaq community, and other small, diverse cultural groups. We don’t have near as many people.

            I was one of the pilot teachers for the African Canadian Studies course, but I would have preferred that there was an African Nova Scotian in front of those students teaching that course. We need more models in our school system and in all those levels of society where they can start to impact the larger community of Nova Scotia as well as some of the defined communities that we often reference and talk about.

            I believe the actual physical hard work that’s going to come related to the Land Titles Clarification Act is part of the expansion and the investment of a total of $710,000 (Interruption) Oh yes. The land title clarification is a separate amount of $346,000. The dollar value for the ANSA investment is $710,000: $500,000 community program and $210,000 for staffing.

            In this International Decade for People of African Descent, those are real investments that I believe will make a difference in addressing systemic racism, the injustice that has gone on, and discrimination. There is a plan, and there will be people to implement a decade of concerted effort in our province.

            MR. HARRISON: I know it takes time and a lot of effort, but the end result is certainly worth all the investment.

            You mentioned the waterfront and what’s going on down there. Is that going to be year-long, all the activity down there, the various arts and crafts and whatever that’s going to go in there?

            MR. GLAVINE: You are referencing the announcement today?

            MR. HARRISON: Yes.

            MR. GLAVINE: I call it a bit of an accident of the day that I was announcing the beginning journey, if you wish, of building a new art gallery in the province. There has been a tremendous amount of work for maybe as long as a decade.

            Our art gallery does tremendous work. In the director of the gallery, we have an extremely proven, capable leader to grow the art gallery and to make it a more prominent fixture and feature of art in our province.

            The concept of needing an art gallery is really based upon being in a building that is challenged around having that suitable environment. There are art collections that require perfect temperature control and humidity, that whole environmental requirement of precious artwork. The building now has those kinds of challenges. It has a challenge of space as well.

            As the need to invest in an art gallery emerged, conversations started to expand to include NSCAD, the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Those boards have worked to uncover the pathway to make this happen. It is kind of easy symmetry to see, connecting those pieces, especially since NSCAD has had some challenges in the past. Right now they are increasing their student body. They feel they have an ability to fundraise that has not been tapped into.

            This is a beginning today to take a look at where the suitable place would be on the waterfront. There are two or three sites that have been identified. This will have a lot of work around planning and proper parking. You have to look into the construction of the subsoils to see what kind of building can be held in the ground on the waterfront. What would be the cost? What is the footprint? What is that public area that will literally invite people to come and experience the cultural hub that will be created there?

            This is what this study will give us. We hope by Fall to be able to say very clearly, this is what will suit our province now and for generations to come. Our waterfront really has the potential, I believe, to be world renowned.

            Take the Discovery Centre, and maybe you’ll have a question about that. The Discovery Centre is so unique in size and composition that it’s now going to be an export product. Other countries are interested in exporting what the Discovery Centre is about.

            The Discovery Centre, the Queen’s Marque, the cultural hub of NSCAD and the Art Gallery, and a convening centre for artists - I believe that offers almost limitless potential for both Nova Scotians and visitors. We’re seeing the growth of cruise ships. For many of those people it’s the arts, it’s the culture, and it’s the heritage of our province that beckon them to come. If we could put it right in front of them, I say it will go extremely well.

            MR. HARRISON: Is that what’s going in that big hole?

            MR. GLAVINE: Down here now?

            MR. HARRISON: Yes.

            MR. GLAVINE: No, that’s the Queen’s Marque. That’s a very different building.

            MR. HARRISON: It’s going to be different.

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes, that has nothing to do with the Art Gallery and NSCAD. I think that’s condominiums, retail, some artisans probably on the lower level, and shops. Just think of the visitors who go see the blown glass, the artistry of that work, the number of people who want to stop and experience that. That’s what we have to do more of. I think the Queen’s Marque is going to open up some of that.

            MR. HARRISON: Sounds like it, yes.

            The innovation fund that was announced back in January, can you update us on the allocation of this program to date?

            MR. GLAVINE: From everything that I have been able to capture about it so far, I believe the Culture Innovation Fund is wonderful. The dollar value, as a start point, is $1.5 million. It’s to be more inclusive of communities by leveraging culture, creative expression in new and better ways for a creative economy. It will also have a social value.

            We haven’t announced yet those who will be the first recipients. As the applications came into the department, I had those kind of over-the-moon reactions of wow, what creativity is truly out there if you give it an opportunity to flourish by putting some dollars behind it. It helps support programs like Discovery Centre International in Halifax. Through innovative thinking and technology, those partners create a program and exhibit that illustrates how the ocean ecosystem impacts our environment, climate, food, culture and heritage. Those are very different ways of using art and artistry to expand our creative economy and to show how social values can also be brought through these endeavours.

            Two areas we hear a lot about where there are needs, as you are aware and I think many Nova Scotians are, are museums and libraries. Those areas of the province that have a great idea for their museum or library can now get additional funding through a creative idea, an innovative way of capturing some of this fund.

            It’s a rolling fund. It doesn’t have a deadline. We’re going to continue to see the advancement of projects and ideas coming in to the department. When they start to roll out, you’ll see that the Culture Action Plan - I encourage all of our members, in fact there are some copies close to where we sit in the Chamber, to read that document. Right off the mark, the Culture Innovation Fund helps to bring one of those major pillars to life. That is to get innovation out there for Nova Scotians to experience.

            MR. HARRISON: What is your hope for libraries? Truro just built a new library not too long ago. They took me on a tour, and they have a lot of fantastic programs. They would certainly like to do more. I was just wondering what your direct aim was with respect to funding libraries now.

            MR. GLAVINE: One of my personal goals is to have time to go to them.

            In all seriousness, you ask a wonderfully important question. I was aware in one of my communities of just what was happening with libraries. I used the term renaissance for what’s going on in our libraries. They have always done great work and provided services to communities and to citizens.

            When you think of the CAP program, the library became the site for somebody to use a computer who didn’t have a personal computer, and also to get instruction as well. The libraries ran programs to teach people to move into the digital age, and that work still goes on.

            To the issue that has come to light, the department has been acutely aware that a per capita funding model - an area of the world where we have seen about 25 per cent depopulation is Cape Breton Island. Therefore, for their central library to meet all the needs and the number of satellite libraries that they have, that model is not working. It’s not working for too many of our libraries. Changing that funding model is now what is at hand. That’s why, for two years running, we gave $474,000 to make sure that they met their staffing needs and some of the projects that they have under way.

            We do need to address that bigger picture of making sure that they are funded properly. The goal is to look at that core funding that they will require year over year. Libraries take on unique and special projects. If you pop into your community library - whether it’s a guest speaker, or it’s a musician doing a demonstration of a unique instrument - in any and all of these kinds of ways, our libraries do that.

            I think the Central Library here in Halifax clearly demonstrates that there is nothing archaic about a library. They are open to unbelievable possibilities to enrich our lives. That is certainly going to be part of their work.

            The core services review will result in a report that will help inform the options for a new and equitable funding model for our public libraries that will certainly meet the needs of Nova Scotians. That will be completed by this Spring. We have had wonderful input, working with the department, from librarians bringing their ideas to the table to provide options for a new formula. Libraries are a key part of the work that we will do to make sure they have a sound place in our communities.

            I will just highlight the area where I live, in the Annapolis Valley. Here’s how significantly things have changed. In just a matter of a few years, six of the 11 libraries are either new, like the one in Berwick, or refurbished. A little bit it may be unfortunate, where we see our churches getting repurposed. If you want to see a library that uses those stained glass windows, the ambience of light and so on, Kentville has just recently opened a new library. This is what’s happening now across the province.

            We have to make sure core services are preserved and work with municipalities to continue the growth. There’s a whole array of new services that libraries are offering. It is important. When I got to see all the things that they do at the Truro Library, I was just amazed. No longer do you just go in and pick up a book or even sit down to read one. The programs that they have for younger children, teens, and young adults are just amazing. It’s an important facility to have because it does offer all that and would like to offer even more. They have good ideas.

            MR. HARRISON: There are a couple in Pictou now that are not really called a library. They are welcoming centres. That’s the kind of embracive programs that they are offering the entire community. I know that for new immigrants, the library has become a place where some of them are getting services that they need support and help with. It certainly is happening here in metro.

            Sports - having the Scotties tournament coming, oh man, that’s going to be great. I’m looking forward to that, really looking forward to that.

[6:45 p.m.]

            Where does the money come from for all of this? It gets pretty expensive to hold these events. Is the money coming from this department, or does it come from somewhere else and go through this department?

            MR. GLAVINE: Depending on the nature - provincial, national, or international - there would be partners that would be part of funding those events. If we’re talking about the Scotties or any of the events that are there, I would mention a couple of things. Number one, we have now put $450,000 in our budget to support major events. There are sometimes one-off unique situations that will come along where the we would expand the department budget or ask Treasury Board for additional support. Overall, partnerships are significant here. The federal government supports events.

            To that end, we have an event planning team now in our department that is gaining tremendous experience in helping communities and organizations put together their bid. One of the areas you mentioned was that we have secured the Scotties. Kudos to a town like Liverpool, probably the smallest community in the world that will host world junior curling next year. They put on an event that was nothing short of flawless, spectacular. The Canadian Curling Association could not turn down their bid to host this international event, which a Nova Scotia team just won in Scotland.

            In many ways, it’s not just about the money that we would have because we would be leveraging the other levels of government, sport organizations, private dollars, and federal and municipal dollars. CBRM are realizing that when you fill Centre 200 for curling day after day after day in February, and you have sold out every hotel room, and maybe there’ll be people that Airbnb will have to look after, that’s a huge economic generator. I have actually been quite overwhelmed by the multiplier of sport tourism nationally and in our province. Those are two of the events.

            We know have bids in for the Memorial Cup. Next year is the 100^th Anniversary of the Memorial Cup. The one I’m very excited about and hopeful about, even though we had a short turnaround - I would love to get the North American Indigenous Games here to Nova Scotia.

            We’re building on a tradition. Think of the International Tattoo and what that does for our province on the global map of international tattoos, the number of people who make a trip to Nova Scotia just for that event, and all those who participate who are here for two or three weeks for the practices and the coordination leading up to that event.

            Yes, we’re gaining great experience with sport events, and we hope to grow this. This summer, we’re going to see international rugby. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to capture a couple of friendly soccer matches on the new Wanderers Grounds facility. We are absolutely thrilled that we have the 2018 Pan American Canoe Sprint Championships. The forecast value of that is a very, very strong dollar figure. Event tourism and major events are certainly going to grow in our province.

            In rural Nova Scotia as an MLA, I have been the recipient of “what in the world is that government” - whether it was the Conservative government, the NDP government - “doing building an oval in Halifax to host Canada Games one time?” Now we have Nova Scotians coming from all over Nova Scotia to have experience of the oval in winter. When I take my grandchildren to the Canada Games Centre, what a great and wonderful experience that is. We need to be open to events and the legacy of infrastructure that they can give our province.

            Look at the Pan American Canoe Sprint Championships. It is a qualifier for the 2019 Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. The one this year will bring 250 elite paddlers and 120 team support staff representing 20 national teams from all over the world. There are people who come here to compete, and one of the first things they say is, I’m coming back. This is a place I want to experience more of.

            I see my colleague here from Cape Breton. We have two of the top 100 golf courses in the world. We are going to see events take place there, as well, that are not even spoken about yet.

            Thank you for raising the one event, and where the dollars come from. It is multiple partners that will make these happen.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Mr. Harrison, you have just under six minutes.

MR. HARRISON: I will never criticize the amount of money, unless it was astronomical, of course, that is put into these kinds of events. Not only do we attract those events, but they affect the people in the province itself. It develops pride, it will develop revenue, and it does a lot of positive things. There is no question.

            One of the things that I do see is that it does give the province some pride and a welcoming atmosphere to people, which I think this province will do very well. It has other effects, no doubt about it - social effects.

            I have asked this question before, and it is a tough one. The rink in Windsor, the extra money that is being put into that, where does that come from?

            MR. GLAVINE: At this stage, the Long Pond heritage museum and arena looks like it is probably going to be two separate enterprises.

            You look at what has every reason to see itself as the birthplace of hockey - that being Long Pond. I had the opportunity to play in one of the Long Pond events, one outside and one inside, because the weather is a determining factor on the quality of ice. It’s really for the Town of Windsor and Hants County to decide on a location. We have made a commitment of $3 million towards this. Again, there will be partners that will have to come forward.

            When communities don’t have that final resolve of where it will be placed - we also need to realize that in Windsor, the current arena has that dual purpose of the agricultural exhibition, the oldest exhibition in North America. There’s a hold on that building both as an arena and as an agricultural exhibition centre. Will a new arena divide that? Most likely a modern arena would not be hosting an agricultural event. There’s a lot in that community to sort out.

            We just need to say at that moment that the province will support a new facility. The facility now is well past its best before date. We support the efforts of the local community, the Town of Windsor, and the District of West Hants, to agree on a path going forward and make sure in some way that the Hockey Heritage Museum - again, it’s certainly worth a visit if you have any interest in the development of the game and its origins. We need the town to lead this wonderful opportunity.

            When a decision is made, you’re going to have those businesses coming forward. I’m not putting words in Tim Hortons’ mouth, but Tim Hortons aligns itself so strongly with our national pastime - not our national game but our national pastime. I believe there are going to be willing partners that will emerge to make this arena and museum another centrepiece for our province to gain some recognition throughout North America and in the hockey cultures of the world. When you take a look at North Korea hosting the Olympics, on to China for 2022, we have every reason to speak strongly about hockey here . . .

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Order. Time has elapsed for the Progressive Conservative caucus.

            We’ll turn it over to the NDP, with Ms. Leblanc for up to one hour.

            MS. SUSAN LEBLANC: Hello everyone, I just wanted to start by saying that since I was elected and became the NDP spokesperson for CCH, I have had some really excellent meetings with people at the department. I wanted to thank you for leading a department of generous people who are willing to meet and willing to listen and willing to hear my thoughts and answer lots of questions. I really appreciate that. If you would pass that on, that would be really nice.

            MR. GLAVINE: Could I respond to that for a second?

            MS. LEBLANC: Yes, of course.

            MR. GLAVINE: With your background and that professional aspect of the world of acting and theatre, I certainly appreciate your perspective.

            I thank you as well for the idea of having an arts event here at Province House. It came on us a bit too quickly to execute this Spring, but I’m certainly committed and the department too. I think you’ll see most of our MLAs willing to embrace the artistic community and what it has to offer, and have it in the context of a social evening. We’ll look forward to the Fall, and I thank you for your help in orchestrating that and also for coming to the department. It’s a delightful place to be.

[7:00 p.m.]

            MS. LEBLANC: It is. I have been there many times before this job, usually asking for money.

            I’m very excited about that too, and I was thinking about it yesterday, on World Theatre Day. Minister Hines made a member’s statement about Mulgrave Road Theatre because it was their 40^th Anniversary. I was thinking about it this morning as I was getting ready for work. It’s awesome that a fairly rural MLA is talking about the art and culture in his riding. Wouldn’t it be awesome on that day, or that week, to hear about all kinds of things from all over the province? So yes, I’m excited.

            I also want to say that - you may not believe this - but I was actually quite an athlete in my day. I didn’t do any art or culture until university. I really appreciate all of the investment, and the emphasis and understanding that sport is very good for our communities. I was a soccer player for a long time and a rugby player, and I just signed my kids up for United DFC for the first time ever, the new soccer club in Dartmouth. Of course, my riding is on the shore of Lake Banook, so I have been getting involved with the Banook Canoe Club, and I’m very excited for the big competitions coming up. I just wanted to start with that.

            I also wanted to say that when I walked in the room, you were talking about the exhibit at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre This is What I Wish You Knew, which is truly beautiful. My partner actually has one of the tiles in that exhibit, so I went to the opening and got to watch the videos. It’s really quite a stunning exhibit. I’m happy for that investment.

            Now I’m going to start to ask tough questions. I wanted to start with the announcement about the cultural hub on the waterfront. In principle, I think this is a very exciting announcement, but I have a lot of questions about it. Maybe it’s a little bit too early for the specific questions I have.

            I know that there has been talk and need for a new art gallery for a long, long time, but I also know that there have been groups throughout the last 10 or 15 years working on trying to get new facilities. For instance, I know that the symphony has been asking for a new concert hall for a long time. The Legacy Centre, which I was a part of for many years, has been working with all levels of government to get funding for a purpose-built performance space.

            I’m wondering how the decision was made to spend infrastructure dollars. I assume, but I would love to hear some clarification on it, that there is federal money involved in this project. How was the decision made to focus on the hub of an art gallery/visual arts space?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s a great question, and I thank you for that. I know the department has had this in scope for a number of years. The board of the Art Gallery have realized some of the limitations that the current space has. Certainly the physical environment for some collections could preclude this being one of the stops both in terms of environment and space. We do have a strong collection for a provincial art gallery here in the province. There’s also a little bit of restlessness in some of the board members and other Nova Scotians who have prominent collections. They are at the point of wanting to see the larger community have the opportunity to see those. There has been a lot of ferment here really, for some time around a modern, larger art galley.

            At the same time, NSCAD has been exploring perhaps more of one site or predominantly one site. They may keep some of the space that they currently have, but their new president is a very dynamic lady who has those kinds of international connections that will bring more students from abroad. The 100 at NSCAD just from China this year shows the global possibilities and potential. They also started to think in terms of something they haven’t done too much of in the past, and that is a reach that would allow fundraising for a new facility.

            As the two started to merge in conversation, the possibility awoke that we could have an art gallery and NSCAD co-locate. A lot of the conversation in terms of the waterfront is about what has happened within a very short time with the Discovery Centre, with the Queen’s Marque, and just the ambience of the waterfront. It certainly is capturing people into that quarter, into that geography. The waterfront became the focal point, and there are two or three areas on the waterfront that hold a possibility.

            I believe that there’s a pent-up need that has emerged in terms of the new waterfront. We know that other levels of government whether it’s HRM - along with the deputy, I have approached the federal minister of culture to explore possibilities. No commitment or anything is made at this stage. It’s way too early, but we wanted to get this first phase out here so that we could look at whether there are strong private interests in donating or in providing funds for a new art gallery. That’s really the genesis of where we are currently. We anticipate strong interest from donors. In our first approach to the federal minister, Minister Joly, she certainly liked the direction that we were exploring when we went to her.

            MS. LEBLANC: There’s no funding commitment from the federal government. This initial sort of study - is that fair, to call it a study?

            MR. GLAVINE: We’re making a commitment to an art gallery co-located with NSCAD. We need to know what the needed footprint is, what the requirements of physical space and parking are, and so on, that whole geotechnical study. Can you go down one or two floors underground or just one floor? What is the area that would be explored? We want the waterfront to be a partner in that first phase.

            Once we get that, we will know where the site will be, what the cost will be, and what kind of planning parameters we will need. Then we will move very quickly to say, look, this is X million dollars, and the partners and investment will come forward. We want this to emerge here fairly quickly. We are on course now to make the big commitment.

            MS. LEBLANC: As I hope you know, and I’m sure you do, there is a big lack of quality performance space in HRM, in particular, and all across the province. Is there a scenario in which you will consult with the broader arts community to bring them into the conversation, the performance community in particular, about possibly incorporating a purpose-built performance base into the Art Gallery?

            MR. GLAVINE: Culture Link, the Link Performing Arts Centre - we’re starting to hear that some locations and spaces and so on have been lost as a result of a growing need. The key point is that the province does recognize the potential of a Link Performing Arts Centre as an important cultural hub, creative industries incubator, and performing arts centre.

            There are no plans in the Art Gallery to include purpose-built performance space with this particular project. However, we are starting to realize that the potential creation of a hub at the old World Trade and Convention Centre would provide much needed cultural infrastructure. There is a whole piece around the potential for about 55,000 square feet of creative space through repurposing the former World Trade Centre, a great central location. It could have about 20,000 square feet of multi-purpose performance halls that could be subdivided into smaller venues - motion picture studio with production offices, multiple dance studios, 160-seat cinema, multidisciplinary rehearsal spaces, and office space for cultural non-profits.

            This is one of the areas that we feel has to be explored. Through Support4Culture, a one-time emerging culture and heritage initiatives program in our department, we invested $58,000 in a feasibility study for the centre.

            MS. LEBLANC: For Culture Link?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s right. We feel strongly about this. It’s a different context than the Art Gallery and NSCAD, but we know that there has been loss of some space across the province. More importantly, if we are going to grow the performing arts, and if we are going to get those seminal ideas from motion picture and incubate creative industries, a cultural hub right here in the centre of the city is a must. Again, we don’t have a dollar value.

            We are in a transitional period, of course, for the old World Trade and Convention Centre, but there is certainly strong reason to believe that that could very well be such a centre. There is no abandonment of that idea whatsoever. We just need to get a bit more of the working group discussions to go on if we are going to make this a reality.

            MS. LEBLANC: Quickly back to the Art Gallery for a second - the first phase, which is looking at the consulting on the waterfront and the consulting on the size and needs and all that, is that being fully funded by the province, or is there money coming from NSCAD or the Art Gallery to collaborate?

[7:15 p.m.]

            MR. GLAVINE: There is an amount of money, but with an RFP out there, we didn’t want to put an amount in a consultants’ framework here to say, this will be the cost and be the driver. This part of it will be fully funded by the province to get us to the stage where I know there will be a huge uptake in terms of designers that would put something iconic on the waterfront. That would distinguish us as a city committed to the arts, committed to culture, and committed to the creative economy. We want to move through this first phase with all the due diligence required, but we’re basically saying this is going to be done in the Fall at the latest.

            MS. LEBLANC: I’m going to switch gears a little bit. Now I’m going to ask about the office of the minister and deputy minister. The staff has increased from four to six. I’m wondering what those two new staff positions are.

            MR. GLAVINE: The staff positions are for a Mi’kmaq director - the number one direction and pillar of the Culture Action Plan is a cultural liaison position with the Mi’kmaq community. There are many overtures coming from the Mi’kmaq community, and we happen to have somebody who will make sure that that part of the Culture Action Plan is constantly in scope, constantly being worked on, and make sure that the depth and breadth of the Mi’kmaq community is before us. That’s one of the positions.

            The other one is one that I have actually seen in action in Kings County. They designated an anti-racism and discrimination position. This is the salary and operating budget for that particular position. We’re going to bring in that whole area that ANSA has identified, the decade dedicated to people of African descent, and the recommendations that will come from the Home for Colored Children Restorative Inquiry. It is to give strong direction to the future.

            That is one of the mandates of that particular body, and we have extended the timeline for their work. They’re doing what I would consider will become work that other jurisdictions will take a look at. It’s in a totally different context than inquiries that are leading towards monetary compensation, I guess you would say. This is about how we look at the next 25 or 50 years, the next couple of generations, to make sure that systemic racism is obliterated from our society. We need a person to head up that project. It’s work that is going to gain momentum here over the next couple of years.

            These two people are going to work directly with the deputy minister, be accountable to the deputy minister. We will give reports on their work in future estimates.

            MS. LEBLANC: I think it’s a great idea that there’s an anti-racism deputy, for lack of a better term, at that level. I think that it’s an idea that should be in every government department. Perhaps you could pass that on to the people who make those kinds of decisions.

            MR. GLAVINE: It’s not a deputy position; it’s a director.

            In many ways, it’s interesting that in just the short time that we have been in government and that I have been there, there is an evolution of the whole Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. If you look at the concept of community as healthy communities, vibrant communities, and engaged communities, there’s a whole number of programs that, in very recent times, have developed when four, five, or six departments actually came together. As the Department Communities, Culture and Heritage, we’re taking the lead in this area.

            The point you have made is an excellent one, that we have to work across a number of departments. If we’re going to give this position the strength that it needs, it will need other departments to come together to have the fullness of their work executed for sure.

            MS. LEBLANC: The Office of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie has been almost cut in half. I think it’s a staff cut of three people. I’m wondering what roles are being cut there and what impact the cuts will have on the department’s operations. Could you just explain why those cuts might have been necessary?

            MR. GLAVINE: In 2014, we physically moved three translators from the Office of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie to Communications Nova Scotia. The FTEs and some associated salary dollars are now following them. The translators remain an integral part of the Office of Acadian Affairs and Francophonie and will continue to work closely with the office. In many ways, Communications Nova Scotia is in the right place to house government’s translation work and the teams that I think need to come together for that work in perhaps a more consistent approach as opposed to the division of being in separate departments.

            MS. LEBLANC: Back to the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs. Its staff has increased by six. I’m assuming that some of the roles are what you have already discussed. Can you just confirm that? If you haven’t covered all six new positions, what they would be for? I’ll start there.

            MR. GLAVINE: Sure, yes. One of the preliminary points that I would make is that ANSA has been an extremely hard-working department. They have found some of the programs and policies wanting, because they don’t have those fieldworkers, if you wish, those people who can interact with about 50 communities.

            When we look at the number of very small communities - whether it’s Inglisville, Gibson Woods, Sunnyville, Weymouth, Acaciaville, or wherever these communities are - they’re marginalized to a great degree. There will be two rural outreach positions. Just from my own experience in the Valley, and we don’t have a huge number of those communities, but very often, they have felt disconnected from the department in a lot of hands-on guidance and support that they could be getting. There’s these two rural positions.

            Also, we know that the land titles are finally before us. It has been a project that is long overdue. It has complications, of course. There will be two community navigators. You can’t send in the surveyors and say, the work is going to be done. The deputy minister and a team from the department went to Lincolnville, Sunnyville and other communities, where they had community meetings. In those community meetings, they were able to feel the pulse of those communities and know that this is going to be some agonizing and challenging work to get accomplished, but it’s something that needs to be done, absolutely. These people need a sense of land title. Succession is always a huge problem and controversy. Those new positions are two people dedicated to land title positions, one manager of land titles, and an office manager. I believe that maybe in some ways it’s still bare bones, but these are essential positions. If we’re going to make the Land Titles Clarification Act come to life and finally resolve that area, that needs to be addressed.

            MS. LEBLANC: Can we expect that these positions will be long term, over many, many years, or are you just committing to one year?

            MR. GLAVINE: There’s definitely some short-term work that will be addressed. As the rural navigators get on the ground and see the kind of work that will need to be done in those communities - right now just based on the number of such land titles to be resolved, we see two years of work in front of them for sure. We’ll see how that moves along. The director position and some overarching work is just getting under way in a decade committed to the needs of Nova Scotians and Canadians of African descent.

            MS. LEBLANC: The Culture and Heritage Development programs budget went down by $2 million. Is that just wrapping up Canada 150? Is that what that is?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s right, yes. This was a wonderful program, and I know that there were certainly a number of MLAs who asked their MPs if there could be some iteration of this continuing. We have the last of many wonderful projects, legacy projects. We had over 200 that were administered through Communities, Culture and Heritage.

            Having attended some of these in the communities, I know there are again legacy projects. I applaud the federal government. The program started under the Conservative Government. They took centennial projects and refurbished them, did improvements on legacy projects that were centennial projects needing a facelift or some other work.

            Basically, there were some signature projects around tall ships. Grand-Pré had a phenomenal Mi’kmaq Acadian re-meeting, coming together. Celtic Colours had additional performers this year. It made a huge impact on communities. As I have gone around the province so far in my role as minister, many communities have done something special for 150. I know my community had a heritage wagon and meeting of cultures and a great display. They’re wondering if there could be some possibility of a follow up. That’s where that $2 million went out the door.

            MS. LEBLANC: There’s no other reductions?

            MR. GLAVINE: No.

            MS. LEBLANC: Funding for Communities, Sport and Recreation has gone up by $4 million. Can you explain what that line pays for and where the new money will go? This may be stuff that you have already mentioned, but I just want to attach it to a budget line.

[7:30 p.m.]

            MR. GLAVINE: It’s important to relate to the scope of that work. First of all, a considerable amount of that is under the communities, sport, and recreation aspect of our communities. We’re realizing that community development around facilities, trails, events, and so forth is a pretty wide scope. A big part is transfer programs from the Department of Community Services, and that’s $1.6 million for community accessibility, another $1 million. Building Vibrant Communities, the Blueprint to End Poverty is $600,000. Community transportation, SHIFT, Blueprint to End Poverty is a $2.39 million commitment. The transfer of a secretary position to Policy and Corporate Services executive director is $60,000. Community accessibility now is coming into our department.

            As I explained a bit earlier too, there is that larger commitment that, by 2030, we want to have a fully accessible province. Within 12 years, to change the face of businesses and community facilities to be fully accessible - while we have made progress, it still remains a pretty huge undertaking.

            To give you a little bit of detail, the $1 million of the accessibility program is increasing the grant program from $150,000 to $950,000. We want Nova Scotia to be a province where everyone can live, work, learn, and play in an environment that is inclusive and welcoming. The Community ACCESS-Ability grants will help community groups make their organizations more accessible to the people they serve. This grant program has had a huge take-up. When I go around these small community halls in rural parts of Nova Scotia and many MLAs when they go out to the Legion, the Lions, the Kinsmen Club - this was a huge undertaking, making their communities accessible. For libraries, meeting halls, community parks, and group homes that $10,000 grant - to have $950,000 for this program really expands the reach now for communities that haven’t accessed it will have that opportunity.

            Also, Building Vibrant Communities is a $600,000 program and another lift in terms of a poverty reduction blueprint. It’s going to support community-focused initiatives to reduce poverty and to work with community groups that are on the ground and know their community and the needs. We’ll have these grants announced very shortly. The grant program offers up to $50,000 per project. A total of 164 applications were received and assessed, and 49 projects have been recommended. We’ll be telling those other projects to re-apply. I will have to check to see. (Interruption) Yes, that’s it for this year.

            We have some programs now that roll through the entire fiscal year. This is one that we needed to get in and get some of these out relatively quickly. They will be announced in April, and we will have a relaunch soon for this coming fiscal year.

            There will be an easy connection with a number of that group of 164 that are very valuable projects. The big one - maybe you have something specific around community transportation, and maybe you were here when I spoke to the critic for the Progressive Conservative Party. At almost $2.4 million, this is an initiative that I believe will strengthen our rural communities in particular.

            Areas that have not benefited from the transportation systems that have emerged in small towns and rural Nova Scotia - this is going to give them a much-needed reach that they have not had the money for in the past. We have announced $500,000 in Cape Breton with a project that was ready to move out. We have a few other demonstration projects that we hope to learn from.

            When we had the Departments of Seniors, Health and Wellness, and Communities, Culture and Heritage go around and do some consulting with communities, we wanted to know how that money could be invested. This is really community-driven. It wasn’t that we said, here’s the project you should do. We allowed them to say to us, here’s what the need is.

            MS. LEBLANC: What is the $200,000 increase to the Arts Nova Scotia budget?

            MR. GLAVINE: I will have to get a little bit of specifics.

            MS. LEBLANC: I am going to ask a few of these types of questions.

            MR. GLAVINE: No, no. That’s right, and I appreciate that’s what Estimates are really all about.

            The estimate, the variance is $125,000. Is that the figure?

            MS. LEBLANC: I thought there was a variance of $200,000 for Arts Nova Scotia. Maybe I am mistaken on that. It might be $125,000. I can’t remember now. I didn’t bring my book.

            MR. GLAVINE: Oh yes. When I was in Opposition, I was told by ministers that we do not analyze the prior year forecast to the new year estimates, since the new year pertains to a different operating plan, and the prior year’s forecast is the evolution of the prior year’s operating plan. If you have digested all of that, then we are in business.

            It was $125,000, which was the transfer of the director position, salary and operating, CHD executive director.

            MS. LEBLANC: Sorry. Say that again?

            MR. GLAVINE: It’s a transfer of a director position from CHD, an executive position. That makes up the $125,000.

            MS. LEBLANC: So, is that - can I use peoples’ names? Is this the person who has moved out of the department and Chris Shore is moving up?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s right, yes. Salaries, benefits, operating costs, and grants and contributions make up that total expenditure.

            MS. LEBLANC: There is no person filling that position?

            MR. GLAVINE: It’s being refilled. It will be refilled.

            MS. LEBLANC: Where in the budget does the $262,000 announced for the local screenwriters fund appear?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s in Support4Culture, CHD. That’s where that will show up. I’ll just expand a little bit. The Screenwriters Development Fund is a new fund of $262,000 and will consider investment in direct costs for TV and film scriptwriting. We have seen, even at the high school level, the potential to support early stage development such as scriptwriting. Some of this money will be going for that. The fund received 25 applications in 2017-18. This was only launched in January.

            The fund aligns with the Culture Action Plan, and it was developed in consultation with Screen Nova Scotia, the industry association, and guidance from screen industry funders, including the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada. Screen Nova Scotia receives $238,000 in operating funding under an annual, renewable memorandum of agreement.

            I have actually had a few enquiries when I have been in different locations as to how this will be rolled out. We’re pleased to have those 25 right off the mark. That will be a wonderful assist for those young, beginning, emerging scriptwriters.

            MS. LEBLANC: You have had 25 applications or 25 grants going out?

            MR. GLAVINE: The number of grants - that’s right, both 25, and 25 will be receiving funding in this first year.

            MS. LEBLANC: Okay. Great. You said that’s under Support4Culture category. That budget has not gone up by $262,000 from last year. What is not being funded by Support4Culture now?

            MR. GLAVINE: It was part of the $4 million from last year, in other words, the extra funding that was introduced in 2017-18 as part of the Culture Action Plan.

            MS. LEBLANC: The Support4Culture?

            MR. GLAVINE: The Support4Culture.

            MS. LEBLANC: So 2017-18, but now we’re 2018-19. The $262,000 for the local Screenwriters Development Fund is within that $4 million. Does that mean . . .

            MR. GLAVINE: But we also need to know that the $2 million doubled to $4 million.

            MS. LEBLANC: From last year.

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes.

            MS. LEBLANC: Oh, sorry. I have bad information here. It doubled this year? I thought it doubled last year.

            MR. GLAVINE: Inside of that, we have designated $262,000 for emerging screenwriters.

            MS. LEBLANC: Okay. Great.

            How much time is there left, Madam Chairman?

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: You have about 12 minutes.

[7:45 p.m.]

            MS. LEBLANC: I’m just going to skip a little bit for a second. I want to talk specifically about another piece of cultural infrastructure, the Bus Stop Theatre, but I also want to talk about operational funding in general. In the last Budget Estimates, we talked about the importance of an increase to operational funding. I was disappointed that there was no new money for operational funding or any substantial increase to Arts Nova Scotia.

            The Bus Stop shared a grant application with us of their $35,000 ask for operational funding. The Bus Stop Theatre, as I am sure you know, serves a very important role in the more independent art scene, but it is a multidisciplinary space. It’s theatre, it’s dance, it’s spoken word venue, and it’s a music venue. It also serves a very important role in the African Nova Scotian community and, to a lesser extent, the indigenous community, because of its positioning on Gottingen Street and because of the work that the people on the board have done to open the doors of the venue to make it very accessible to marginalized communities, and also communities of artists who don’t have substantial funds to pay rent.

            It’s one of these spaces that, if it closes - and it is in danger of closing - it would have a huge impact on the arts and culture scene. Those incubators, those young, emerging companies, those companies on - I don’t want to say on the fringe because I don’t mean fringe theatre, but on the edges of creation - they are the ones that feed the cultural system, as it were. We need those emerging artists and those developmental artists or experimental artists to feed the things that go into our brand new art galleries.

            I just wanted to ask about them, and Bus Stop in particular. I wonder if there is a place for the Bus Stop in the Community Facilities Improvement Program, if there was a way that the Bus Stop could fit in there. Essentially, and I’m using the Bus Stop as an example, I want to know, does the department look at the larger impact on the greater arts community when looking at funding decisions like this? The impact of the Bus Stop getting organizational funding or operational funding would have such a massive spin-off for the community. I am wondering if you take any of that into consideration?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s a great question. Sometimes you need to see what we are doing in the arts at the micro-level, the microcosm of Bus Stop.

            First of all, I want to say that, with Arts Nova Scotia, there is $3,210,000. That is administered by an independent body. They have 23 meetings a year and 70 peer reviews annually. They process over 800 applications per year, with over 280 projects funded, 27 organizations provided ongoing operational support, and 11 application-based funding programs.

            One of the things that sometimes will happen in the department is that we don’t give that fulsome review, especially of operating grants and obviously conditions can change over a period of time. We are going to be looking this year at our operating grants. That is one of the first things that I would say to you. Secondly, right off, we would certainly welcome a meeting with Bus Stop to take a look at the nature of their work, the challenges they have, the kind of community reach, and the importance of the work to a particular community, if that is the case.

            Also, under Community Facilities Improvement Program, the budget is almost $1 million this year. That’s to enhance public use of existing facilities. Of course, accessibility grants are open to any of our public facilities to make those adaptations and changes. I would say we’re really moving quite strongly to make sure we have barrier-free facilities in scope over a period of time. For this year, that application deadline is past, but for another year, there’s a program with a maximum of up to $50,000 available. Certainly to review operating costs with Bus Stop Theatre, we are certainly more than prepared to have them contact the department and come in for a full discussion.

            MS. LEBLANC: I’m happy to hear that you’re going to be looking at operational grants this year. It has been my understanding that one-time project funding - not necessarily one-time project funding but project funding in general - can help groups find other avenues of funding. For instance, you can get a project to hire a consultant to make you a business plan, or you can get a project grant to hire a fundraiser for a particular project and that kind of thing. I’m wondering if the department does assessments of the longer-term impact of those project funds, the sustainability plans, and that kind of thing.

            Have you done any studies to assess the impact of those? Are there any comparisons of the impacts of those kinds of project funding versus operational funding in terms of leveraging the other funding? For instance, I’ll just give you an example. For a small artist-run organization, project funding to do a business plan to then take to bigger funders would be very useful at the same time as more operational funding so that the people running the company can actually be doing that work all the time on the ground as part of their daily routine. I’m wondering if there have been any comparisons or assessments between those two models.

            MR. GLAVINE: I’ll speak to a model that I am familiar with. I haven’t had a recent conversation with Ross Creek theatre, but I look at where they located in Canning, Nova Scotia, very rural, and the kind of work that they have been able to do well beyond that summer program that they have. We saw it as a cultural hub offering a variety of developmental opportunities: art camps for youth, artist residents, professional theatre productions, of course - Two Planks and a Passion Theatre. When I looked at some of the programs in support of mental health that they did in the school system in Kings County, it was that larger plan that they had, which I think attracted the department to make this very recent investment in their work.

            Again if it’s Bus Stop Theatre or any theatre group - Mulgrave, Theatre Antigonish, or any of those come forward with a plan that you have to have a full-year engagement program. We all know that there’s a great diversity of opportunity, and very often that money can be leveraged with federal programs as well. Just to give a little bit of a sense to our panel here - you’re probably familiar with Ross Creek to some degree …

            MS. LEBLANC: I performed there many times.

            MR. GLAVINE: There you go. Maybe I saw you actually in one play not realizing where you are today. It brings professional artists of all disciplines and provides services to Nova Scotia youth, public schools, immigrants and refugees, and the wider community both onsite and through some of their work in Halifax, Kentville, and throughout Kings County.

            I would say to any group that wants to evolve and have a fuller year based on a 365-day work-up, we certainly would entertain ongoing discussions with Bus Stop Theatre and any of our theatre groups. We haven’t done that kind of comparison, but it may be one of those areas where we could do a better job in the department by doing some of that comparative analysis so that we get a sense of what work the theatre is doing and how it’s enhancing the well-being of a community, giving artists and actors an opportunity.

            Of course, we’re always interested in sustainability. Does the theatre have a board to help with the direction and a future long-term plan? By all means, Bus Stop Theatre or any group that wants to meet with us to look at the long-term plan and viability of theatre - we want to see our arts community grow in this province and opportunities to be available.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: One minute.

            MS. LEBLANC: I guess I have to use it because I have more questions. I’ll just ask this. I’m just going to go to the libraries for a second here. You mentioned that the funding is not working anymore, or it’s clear that it isn’t. Why isn’t it? What’s wrong with it? I’m curious.

            MR. GLAVINE: There is an essential element in doing the review that has been going on, and it will be presented to us in the department very shortly. The essential change is that change in demographics where the course was a pro-funding model . . .

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Order. Time has elapsed for the New Democratic Party.

            MR. GLAVINE: I can expand on that.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: We’ll move over to the PC caucus for up to one hour. Ms. Adams.

            MS. BARBARA ADAMS: I would like the minister to have an opportunity to finish that.

            MS. LEBLANC: It’s okay.

            MS. ADAMS: All right. I always enjoy this opportunity because I find that it’s the best way for me to learn.

            I had an opportunity at Public Accounts Committee to sit in for Communities, Culture and Heritage, so I had a crash course in it back then. I was just looking at some statistics from Stats Canada, and they were talking about the number of jobs that were attributed to Communities, Culture and Heritage. I had 2014 and 2016 numbers, so I realize they’re not 2017. It was showing that in 2014, there were 13,874 jobs attributed; and then in 2016, there were 13,719. That’s a decrease of only about 160 people, give or take, but it had dropped down a little bit. The income attributed in 2014 was $949 million, and then in 2016, it was $874 million. My first question to the minister is, when the grants are being allocated, how much weight is given to the potential for job creation? Have we changed that practice over the last five years?

[8:00 p.m.]

            MR. GLAVINE: First of all, I thought I would provide a little bit of background in terms of how Statistics Canada has now changed their model, in particular the Provincial and Territorial Culture Indicators, to determine economic impacts. It’s an accounting framework developed to measure how important the economic benefits of culture, the arts, heritage, and sport are to the Canadian economy. They have been developing this now for a while. PTCI is a precise, credible, and internationally recognized framework that provides economic measurements of its importance to the Canadian economy. On February 27, 2018, a new and more timely data set was released, allowing Canadians to see seven years of economic contribution data and job trends for culture and sports. In some ways, we can’t make those exact comparisons over years, so they took a seven-year period.

            In 2016, 13,709 Nova Scotians reported being employed in culture jobs, which represented 12 per cent of all jobs in the province, and 2,760 Nova Scotians reported being employed in sport jobs, which represented 16 per cent of the jobs associated with culture and sport in the province. The PTCI data for Nova Scotia in 2016 shows total cultural economic contribution of $874 million, as you said, which grew 13 per cent from 2010 to 2016. The GDP contribution in sport in 2016 was $151,704,000, which had actually grown 26 per cent from 2010 to 2016.

            We have a different comparative now, and this will be the formula used going forward. What happened is, they changed the baseline. Any time you change the baseline, then obviously, we are now comparing something that is different. Every province saw a change in numbers. The real benefit will be when we measure now in 2017, and from this time forward we will be able to see if there is a clear path of improving the job numbers and improving the GDP associated with culture and sport. There is a breakdown of the culture areas and sport in our province.

            These are two areas that we see as having great economic value and enormous potential, especially as we start to export more of our cultural entities into Europe and, we’re hoping, into China. Mermaid Theatre has been going there for a few years now. I believe this year they want a second troupe touring in China.

            One of the opportunities we are going to capture here very shortly in May is through the ECMAs. We have an export associated where countries will bring some of their music in an expo format, but the caveat is that we want to be able to get into those markets for them to be able to come here during the ECMAs. I believe it’s a whole area where, in many ways, we have a golden opportunity. Our music in particular is extremely marketable around the world. We have seen the explosion with Celtic Colours and many of our festivals, which we also use as opportunities to be explored by those who put on events and then exported across Canada and into the U.S.

            Every grant program, of course, has different criteria that we use to evaluate against. In this larger picture now, we will have a defined, measurable fund year to year.

            MS. ADAMS: Since we’re mentioning Celtic Colours, I’ll ask this while it’s at the top of my head. I notice that the funding for Gaelic Affairs had dropped. It may have been brought up last night by the member for Inverness to the Minister of Gaelic Affairs, but I’m just wondering if there’s a reason for that cut.

            MR. GLAVINE: One of the challenges is if you analyze the prior year forecast to the new year estimate, there can certainly be a difference in operating there. The Gaelic licence plate required $48,000 of investment in order to produce that product. I know that some of my colleagues like Minister Rankin will be pretty quick to get that Gaelic licence plate. We essentially had the same budget with a variance of just $5,000: $414,000 to $419,000 is the estimate for 2018 to 2019, with that one variance relating to the development of the licence plate.

            MS. ADAMS: I’m wondering if there are still two vacancies on the Gaelic College Foundation Board of Governors.

            MR. GLAVINE: That I will have to ask about. If we don’t have an answer, we will certainly get that for you.

            MS. ADAMS: It’s our understanding that there has been a vacancy there. That would be good to know. Thank you.

            Actually, before I get into the weeds, I live in the Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage constituency and we have quite a number of non-profit organizations that host a whole slew of events. We have the Passage Players theatre group of actors. We have the Maritime Race Weekend. There’s quite a number - pirate days, Tallahassee Days pirate festival, and even the Friends of McNabs Island as well. In meeting with all of them one on one, they’re all saying, jeez, there must be some grants that would help us do some of these things.

            Some are aware and some aren’t, so we’re actually having an expo on April 19^th. The government agencies are coming, and I hope you have been invited. It’s to help all of them be aware because we are literally running all of our volunteers into the ground because it’s the same people on every committee.

            I’m wondering, for our entire community - when you’re giving out grants, I know that you look geographically as well. They made a comment to me, and I told them I would ask you. Is there a way to have somebody come out to the community, look at the overall needs, and help people know what grants to apply for on a strategic plan?

            Our Lions Club put in a grant, and I did that as their secretary before I became an MLA. The church put in a grant, the Legion put in a grant, and the Fisherman’s Cove board put in a grant. Nobody knew everybody else was doing it, so it didn’t feel like a very coordinated effort. I think the Lions Club was the only one that got a modified grant. I think the church turned it down because the money that was offered wasn’t sufficient for the project. I’m just wondering what we can do to help an entire community coordinate their process so that there is more economy of scale in terms of what we are all trying to do in each of our communities.

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s a great question that we get from all MLAs currently here and in the past. First of all, I would have to give background by saying that in a relatively short period of time - and I know this is something the deputy minister and the department were keen to do - after we came into government, we realized that grants were literally all over the map in terms of departments. In fact, we had some organizations that were getting three and four grants because they were from different departments.

            Our department has now taken on the oversight and the administration of a very wide range of grants. I would say to you and to any MLA who wants to bring community organizations to find out about grants to call us. We would be more than willing to have someone put in front of groups what grants could be applicable, whether it’s a community festival, or whether it’s enhancing a community building.

            We do have grants to support all of those areas. The department will help in terms of preparation. We get grant applications that do not have the required information. We don’t just put those in the garbage. We work with these groups to help facilitate their grant.

            I would strongly recommend that you call the department. We will have somebody work with an organization or multiple organizations that want to get a sense of what all those grants are.

            MS. ADAMS: Thank you. I appreciate that. I know quite a number of organizations that spend a lot of their time applying for grants from various departments, so it would be nice to have them all under one roof.

            MR. GLAVINE: I would add that for festival and community development programs, there is $112,000. Very often, it’s that $3,000, $4,000, or $5,000 that will make the difference in whether you bring someone in for some entertainment.

            We know that our summer festivals and community events are a splendid highlight of our summer and bring together the enormous work of volunteers. In 2017, that program funded 30 festivals and events across Nova Scotia. There is that opportunity, for sure.

            MS. ADAMS: Do you have the grants that were awarded last year separated by constituency? If we wanted to list all 51 constituencies, could you see how much money each one got?

            MR. GLAVINE: Generally, we would be putting out the grants by community. For communities in your riding, you could find out which organizations did receive grants.

            MS. ADAMS: I share Cole Harbour with the member for Cole Harbour-Portland Valley.

            MR. GLAVINE: Sorry - I have been used to printing all day, so I’m picking up her writing. You can find out by county what organizations received grants.

            MS. ADAMS: What did I call them in the other Chamber, suggestions and questions? This is a suquestion. Is it possible to separate them out by constituency?

[8:15 p.m.]

            MR. GLAVINE: At the moment, there are six regional directors in the province for anything relating to our community grants. These regional directors are aligned with a number of counties. Therefore, it’s based on the work in two, three, or four counties. On the South Shore, there is a regional director for Queens County and Lunenburg County. They would be orchestrating the grants to those communities.

            MS. ADAMS: But would it be possible, or is it not possible?

            MR. GLAVINE: Right now, we have no way of looking where the grants are going in terms of ridings. How many grants go to Kings County, Queens County, or Halifax County, we would be able to have that breakdown.

            MS. ADAMS: Some of the places that we have in our constituency are right next to each other, and one didn’t know that the other one had applied for a grant. They could have coordinated resources.

            I just want to touch on libraries for a minute. When was the last time we built a new library? Do we have any new libraries being constructed in the next couple of years?

            MR. GLAVINE: I haven’t been across the province to visit all of our libraries. I can give you examples from the regional library that I’m familiar with. It has 11 libraries, and out of the 11, six are new or totally refurbished. There is a growing need in our communities as the functions of libraries are certainly undergoing considerable change. It depends again on the nine regional libraries and library boards as to what town, village, or community is going through a renovation or building a new library. For example, we have had a number of communities that, when they were building a civic centre, included space for a library. In that way, we have been able to get a number of new libraries in the province.

            The work in the department for the last year or so and now coming to fruition is to make sure that there is adequate funding for our libraries. We have all heard in recent months the need for a new funding model, so we have given that a major focus. A new library often involves the municipal unit recognizing that the building is old. It’s costly, and the municipal unit will undergo a fundraising initiative to develop a new library.

            Our concern is with over $14.4 million annual funding and seeing that our per capita funding model is not working well. We will be bringing in a new model of funding the libraries. We did give an additional $474,000 last year and again this year to meet a number of the needs that libraries have. It is spread equally among the regional library boards.

            MS. ADAMS: Just because I don’t have a number in front of me, how many libraries do we have in the province?

            MR. GLAVINE: Libraries in the province, we have the nine regional boards, and the number is about 80.

            MS. ADAMS: I wish I had people like that sitting on the right and left side of me.

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes, we’re really getting into details and challenging the minister to know how many books there are in the system - that would include e-books, I’m sure, right?

            That being said, I thank you for the question on the libraries. When we start here in the city and look across the 80 libraries, not only are we seeing a major change in the function of libraries in our province, but we also have a showpiece to the world in Halifax Central Library. Many communities are getting municipal funding and donations to libraries to make sure that they have a sustainable future. That’s why we have looked at a new model. We’ll have that coming forward here very shortly. The expertise is out there in the field, and the department welcome a team of people to make proposals for options for the future.

            MS. ADAMS: I did the math. If you divide our population by 80 libraries, that’s about 12,000 people per library. I know you’re all happy when I say that I have the only constituency without a single family doctor. We don’t have a library either. It has always bothered me because my kids grew up there, and they were surrounded by all of the wonderful things that come with a library, and I don’t need to go into those.

            With the building of the new Eastern Passage Island View High School, in addition to them losing the IB and the skilled trades, they are no longer going to be right next door to the Cole Harbour Library. They’re not going to be next to the rink or the pool or any of the things that come from there. I know people aren’t looking at that loss, but it’s a huge loss. Even though we have Shearwater military base there, you cannot use their rink or their pool or their gym unless you buy a year’s membership, which the majority of the people cannot do.

            We are losing a library at the very same time that we are saying we want to improve the educational level of our students, and literacy is the very key to that. We don’t have bus service between Cole Harbour and Eastern Passage, so they can’t take the bus to get over there. I’m feeling a huge, gaping whole there.

            We also just found out, because of the last storm, that the huge building that cadets from all over metro used is destroyed inside. They’re going to be tearing it down, and they have no plans to replace it. I just found that out on Saturday. We have, I think, the largest cadet organization in the Maritimes. They’re award-winning cadets, and they have nowhere to go. Their equipment is locked up in a storage locker that they cannot use, and the military has no incentive to replace it.

            We’re talking about hundreds of students. I have been there at many awards ceremonies. I was talking to one of the people there, a teacher there to watch some of the students get awards as cadets. I asked, can you tell that these students are cadets when they’re in a classroom? She said there is a dead giveaway. I said, how is that? She said, (a) they do what they’re told, and (b) they’re respectful, and they always show up on time. My own son went through cadets, and he’s now in the Air Force. I’m terrified of what’s going to happen to these hundreds of kids and the parents who were so pleased that their kids had this place to go. Now that’s another huge, gaping whole.

            We do have the Tallahassee Recreation Centre, which is really just access to a vacant gym and a vacant room. There were some renovations that went to the Tallahassee Recreation Centre, and they’re nice, but there really isn’t a lot of equipment put in there.

            I am afraid, with the introduction of pre-Primary and with the inclusion commission, that the little bit of space that is there for a recreation centre may get annexed back to the school. There isn’t much there to be offered, anyway. The programs are very, very limited. There is a gaping hole there, and our teenagers, in particular, have nothing to do.

            There are no fitness facilities there. There is a room there. They said they would take free equipment and let people come in and exercise for free, but there was no funding for that. I may be coming back at you for that one.

            The other thing is, we have a theatre group with no place to put on a show, except for by the willingness of the Lions Club and the Buffalo Club, and of course, they charge.

            I did meet with Library Services and had them come out. If you have been to my constituency office, I have a free library there, so adults and children can come in and take books and go off with them. I got way too many donations, so my garage is completely full of books. I could fill a library if you gave me one.

            When I met with the person in Library Services, she said, “Yes, it’s on our radar.” They tried to bring a little library out to Fisherman’s Cove on Wednesday, once a week in the summer. Parents who are working are putting the kids with a babysitter. It’s not the same as going to the library and going to the little puppet shows, learning to search for books in the library, and doing your homework. I also have free Internet and a computer in my office because people don’t have access if they don’t have the Internet or a computer at home.

            When I spoke with her about it and asked what my constituency needs to do in order to get a library, she said, “We have good news.” I said, “Great. What’s that?” “We are going to put a vending machine in the Tallahassee Rec Centre.” You’ll put in your request for a book, it will drop down, and you will take it out. I wanted to weep because my kids went to those centres, and they learned to socialize, and my mother could go with us.

            We don’t have a centre in our community where people of all ages can go and hang out. You can go drink at a couple of our establishments. You can go play on certain mornings. There are seniors’ lunches. We have segregated our communities into those different sectors.

            This long-winded statement is leading up to, what does it take for us to get a facility that would hold a library? In a perfect world, it would hold the cadets, have a theatre, and have a recreation centre - a place like I see all over the province.

            I just came from the Canada Games Centre last night. Obviously, I don’t want something like that. I do want a zip line to go from Eastern Passage over to the island or Halifax. I like to throw that out there every chance I get. In all seriousness, what will it take for us to get a library?

            MR. GLAVINE: First of all, I would say that there are many libraries of the 80 that are certainly not stand-alone facilities. They are in conjunction with other community services. That would be one of the areas that they would look at.

            Also, there are a number of refurbished buildings. In fact, one of the ones I referenced earlier here tonight was a beautiful stone structure in downtown Kentville, the United Church, which has been repurposed into a library and other community resources. That’s where the community would need to come together and look at what potential there is with an existing building.

            If you are talking about a community centre that would have four or five groups, that’s a different plan, a different proposal. That would need to go to different levels of government for consideration. I’m not sure if the base has made any overtures as to what they are going to do . . .

[8:30 p.m.]

            MS. ADAMS: Nothing.

            MR. GLAVINE: Maybe nothing is your answer there. You’re having a loss of facilities due to the base changing its role in the community in terms of having a wide variety of offerings. We are seeing some retrenchment in communities across Canada and in our province. Bases are not having as wide an array of services offered, especially in areas of recreation. That may be now incumbent upon a village commission or as part of HRM to take a look at what the needs of that community are.

            Many communities will do a survey, and they ask will for the top five needs that we could put into a civic centre. A town in my riding is a great example. Berwick, which has about 2,200 citizens, built a new town office. They included a small gym that has a whole range of uses and also placed the regional library there as well. It was the community that offered the facility in order to have a library for the community and to offer a more central location for the regional library. Today, partnering is very often the answer to get a community library.

            There’s a tremendous interest in and revival of libraries as a community hub, as a community centre. Pictou has a couple re-designated as welcoming centres. That’s what would need to be looked at in the community before an ask for funding. Is there a building that could be repurposed?

            There is also now the concept of pop-up libraries and libraries such as you offering some books where you have many people coming and going in an MLA’s office. In the small village of Aylesford, in my riding, in the sheltered workshop there, they decided that having some of the clients work on putting new covers on books could possibly be a source of income. All of a sudden, people started dropping off books just for sharing and taking out, and some for purchase. Now, they have a whole other stream of revenue and income and community engagement going on through the sheltered workshop. Exploring ideas and possibilities would be the first avenue that I would encourage for sure, but I wouldn’t give up on a library either.

            MS. ADAMS: Oh, thank you for that. I have no intentions of giving up.

            In the constituency itself, there are no commercial spaces there. If you want to go out and open up a business there, there is zero. There is one house for sale that used to be a veterinary clinic at the end of my street, and the church has a vacant house that’s full of mould. Other than that, there is absolutely nowhere that we could put something. It would most likely have to be a new structure unless somebody was selling something that was in a suitable location. I guess I’m going to take your advice and pursue that further.

            I know it would be a massive undertaking, but this community is sort of like a Bedford waiting to happen. We have a huge body of property there that will be turned into housing, I’m quite sure. I know that the community wants that. They want to be able to take families together, not just at this festival and then, a few weeks later, at that festival. One of the questions that I get asked by people who are moving there is, where is the community centre? There isn’t one.

            On December 13^th, minister, you had announced that there was $600,000 for a new grant to help reduce poverty. I apologize if this has already been asked. We’re just wondering what the uptake had been on the program. Will all of the funds allocated for the program be used up by the end of March 31^st?

            MR. GLAVINE: In fact, I was at this announcement along with Mayor Savage, and we were in Spryfield community centre there, the YMCA. This is really the beginning of a larger plan, a blueprint, that has been put together to come up with many concrete and tangible ways in which communities can be supported to reduce the impacts of poverty.

            Building Vibrant Communities is a grant program that offers funds up to $50,000 per project. In the first ask, there were 164 applications that were received and assessed. This year, 49 projects have been recommended. The 2018-19 call for BVC grants - we now have another acronym - will be announced in April. I’m sure many of the 164 were also deemed to be great ideas, valuable projects that could help a community with a range of projects. The idea is to support vulnerable citizens and to give them a better opportunity for the future.

            The grants could include community organizations, First Nations communities, registered charities, municipalities, social enterprises, and private sector business if they partner with a non-profit. We’ll see a tremendous range, obviously relating to food security, transportation, and youth. These will certainly be some of the areas that the grant applications will cover. This is really the first - 2017-18 - because the 49 grants are actually for this fiscal year. It’s part of the poverty reduction blueprint, and this is the first year of a number of projects that will cut across a number of departments. Where it’s community-building or community enhancement, our Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage will do the processing and overseeing of the applications.

            MS. ADAMS: If that money isn’t all used up by March 31^st, will it carry on to the next year?

            MR. GLAVINE: Right now, we will have a full disbursement of what was in the 2017-18 budget of $600,000. The next round will be the 2018-19 fiscal year, and we’ll start that in April.

            If there’s an organization in your community that has something in mind, in April there will be a new round for $600,000.

            MS. ADAMS: A new round, okay.

            My final question is, in the budget, it seemed that there was no money for water safety, and I’m just curious about that.

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s one that I was asking about as well.

            MS. ADAMS: Good.

            MR. GLAVINE: I know that any of us who go to public beaches realize that the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service is such a valuable addition. We have examples of lives saved and the kind of training that the lifeguards receive. I am going to get to answering your question. We have had the benefit of the expertise and life-long commitment from an individual who has poured himself into this program through the years, Mr. D’Eon. His work has really shaped a first-class lifeguard service for the Government of Nova Scotia.

            What happened was, CCH transferred the responsibility and financial resources for the service to the Department of Natural Resources to create stronger alignment with the province’s long-term strategy for parks and to create efficiencies for staff of the Nova Scotia Lifeguard Service. That $659,000 will go to Natural Resources. Our department provided an additional $50,000 to the service to maintain and upgrade essential equipment before they went over to Natural Resources, and that included lifeguard chairs and defibrillators.

            The NSLS is contracted by the Government of Nova Scotia to provide supervision on 16 core beaches across Nova Scotia during July and August. A number go to the long weekend in September, as well.

            MS. ADAMS: Thank you. I am going to pass over my time to the member for Cape Breton-Richmond.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Ms. Paon.

            MS. ALANA PAON: Good evening. I want to start off by asking questions about libraries.

            My constituency is very rural. Recently, visiting Baddeck, I was reminded that libraries are not always just a physical building. In my time as a child in rural Nova Scotia, we were always very pleased to see the bookmobile roll into the community to make certain that we all had the advantage of being able to take a book our of the library.

            I wanted to ask the minister, what are the plans moving forward to continue the bookmobile service, especially in rural Nova Scotia, where there is not a physical building available and where access for seniors, in particular, is an issue?

            MR. GLAVINE: Thank you for joining estimates this evening. Developments have gone on over the last number of years. Having visited the central library in Sydney, which supports a number of satellite libraries, you get a sense of the challenges that libraries have.

            Cape Breton may be at the epicentre of realizing that, at a time of population decline - we are hoping that has been stabilized or is stabilizing, but the core funding - the funding core model we had on a per capita basis was leaving some deficits of good programs. We are now looking at the concept of what the core services are that absolutely need to be supported. Whether it’s a bookmobile or whether all the satellite libraries have the same number and kinds of services, all of that is under review.

            In April, we will have that report coming forward. The strength of that report is that it is the intelligence and the experience of the librarians who are part of that committee who will be developing the report, along with the department, to see what the best funding model for the future can be and should be. Sorry - the report is in later spring, not necessarily April. We are relying primarily upon a base of people who, over a period of time, have been formulating what some of our options will be.

            The core services review will result in a report that will help inform those options for a new and equitable funding model for the province.

[8:45 p.m.]

            I also live in a part of the province where the bookmobile and its function is certainly part of the current services offered. I look forward to the review because also there are new and innovative library services. The different regional boards send me out their quarterly letter or send the annual letter, and since becoming minister, I have been absolutely amazed and fascinated by the services that are currently being offered in our libraries. You stated in your opening remark that it’s no longer just a place to pick up a book.

            MS. PAON: I just want to state for the record that, although I’m a huge proponent of new and innovative ways, sometimes the technology that’s borne of that and the new innovative ways are not always conducive to all of the users, especially the senior users within a library system. My hat’s off to the People’s Place, the library in Antigonish, which really is a core hub for the community. I know in any community across Nova Scotia and even around the world - I’ve done lots of travelling, and libraries are always one of the first places I seek out. It’s a place to be able to get a bit of peace and quiet and some rest.

            I wanted to move on to music festivals and, oddly, churches. We have a lot of churches that are being - I’ll use the word “decommissioned,” but we call it being deconsecrated. There are quite a few of them in my community in particular. I have been approached by some groups in the community, not formalized associations, looking at ways to reuse these beautiful structures. They’re historical structures. The interiors are incredible.

            I’m wondering if the minister could indicate to me some of the funding that’s available coming forward for 2018-19 that some of these community groups could look into for projects for those structures and reutilizing those spaces, perhaps for music, entertainment, or anything else.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Just a little over 10 minutes for this round left.

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s a great question. To  your preliminary comments about repurposing churches or sometimes halls that were associated with a community church, throughout the Annapolis Valley, I have seen a number of actually phenomenal repurposing of some churches. Having a number of different funds in Communities, Culture and Heritage, we would probably need to have our regional director meet with a particular group and understand what the scope of the project is. A number of these projects will be in alignment with the Culture Action Plan, so it’s important for us - if we’re to use CFIP, our Community Facilities Improvement Program, again, we would need to have that investigated by the regional director, meet with the group, and have the plan and the proposal well laid out to have it considered. It sounds like it’s within the framework of what we do at Communities, Culture and Heritage.

            MS. PAON: May I just ask, would the minister be willing to commit to further conversation with myself and representation from these groups to put a meeting together with the regional director for Cape Breton-Richmond?

            MR. GLAVINE: Very often, it may be to meet with the deputy minister or again, some of the expertise in our department. If I’m available, I certainly make myself readily available to have an understanding of what’s happening in communities across the province. By all means, I would encourage you to be in touch with the department.

            Sometimes, first reviewing with our regional director, they have had a wide number of proposals that have come in over the years, and you can get a sense of what program you may be able to apply for right off. If it’s within a certain amount of money, that could be known to you right off. If it’s something of a more significant scale, then I think having the department review with you would be the best advice.

            MS. PAON: I think I almost heard there that, instead of a regional director, the minister would be willing to meet with me. I think that I have a win on that one, I am one up as opposed to down. I appreciate that. Thank you.

            As far as satellite libraries, I know this report is coming out in the end of April. I’m just going to go back to that for a moment. Do you foresee, within these new and innovative ways, that bookmobiles will be cut out of the budget moving forward? I’m just trying to get a sense of that. I know we’ll have to wait until the report.

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes, I think it’s important to realize the commitment to libraries by the province, by previous governments, and by our government. We’re at $14.4 million annual funding, and we made sure last year and again this year, that staff and services that are there were protected.

            The municipal governments have - whether it’s 20 per cent - a role to play. If I remember correctly, we’re somewhere in that (Interruption) Generally, it’s a provincial share of around 26 per cent, municipal 71 per cent, and a board share of 0.03 per cent. Boards are actually involved with some fundraising. Of course, some do much more significant fundraising based on community needs or a project that they see as very valuable to the community.

            A lot of that will happen at the local level, what the potential of a fundraiser may be, something that they want to place in the library for future use, or a service that would be valuable to the community. I certainly encourage all members, if they haven’t for a while, to explore their local library and even take a look at other community libraries to see what is going on. I have actually been very fascinated with the evolution of libraries. Sometimes when I have talked about it, people have this view that libraries are passé. When I look at the thousands who go to central library, and the thousands who go in our 80 community libraries each year, they’re very much alive and well. We will provide core funding, and it’s going to be the knowledge on the ground from librarians that will be formulating the report that we will act upon.

            MS. PAON: I take it minister, that it’s likely the case that I’ll have to wait until April for the report to come out to find out the fate of bookmobiles?

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes, in late Spring. Even as minister, I want to see that report and the work that has been put into this. We are hearing from librarians, as well. They know that sustainability for the future - they want to give us advice to act upon, to make sure of the security of libraries in those 80 communities across the province. They are a significant part of community life.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Mr. Harrison, I believe you have a question.

            MR. LARRY HARRISON: I just want to close off by saying that the department is doing a lot of wonderful things, and it is nice to see that a lot of work is being done to draw the province together.

            I have had a little bit of interaction with staff in the past, and they have been extremely helpful. Obviously, your staff here tonight are well prepared.

            I just want to thank you for your input for the last couple of hours. I hope your staff has a good night.

            MR. GLAVINE: Thank you very much to both members of the Official Opposition. Thank you for your compliments to the department. We will continue to have the best and brightest to help you out.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: We will switch over to Ms. LeBlanc for the NDP.

            MS. SUSAN LEBLANC: I’m sorry, Madam Chairman, how much time do we have?

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: The remainder of this evening - 29 minutes.

            MS. LEBLANC: Hello again. I am just going to go back on a couple of questions I asked earlier for some clarification.

            The first question I have is, in the budget, the line for Creative Economy is $400,000. What is that exactly? Sorry - the increase was $400,000. I’m getting tired. What is that line in general, and what is the increase being used for?

            MR. GLAVINE: We have such an array of programs, in terms of the creative economy, the two streams are creative industries and Music Nova Scotia.

            Music Nova Scotia has a $900,000 budget. It’s a huge part of our culture sector, as we all know. We continue to embark upon exporting that talent and moving it even out of our province for both the artist’s success and also as part of the creative economy.

            Here’s a little bit of a breakdown. Funding to Music Nova Scotia is comprised of $630,000 for client investment program streams, funding directly to artists; $100,000 for Nova Scotia Music Week - MNS international program; $40,000 Nova Scotia Music Week investment which generates $1.4 million direct spend in the host community; $70,000 for international business development; and $60,000 operational support for Music Nova Scotia. In addition to the $900,000, there is $1.1 million of investment in the Nova Scotia music industry and $2.7 million in music industry revenue, annually. That’s to give you an overview here of the importance of Music Nova Scotia.

[9:00 p.m.]

            MS. LEBLANC: What is the $400,000 increase for?

            MR. GLAVINE: The $400,000 is directly to Music Nova Scotia.

            MS. LEBLANC: Oh, it’s an increase to Music Nova Scotia.

            MR. GLAVINE: Yes, it’s with Music Nova Scotia.

            MS. LEBLANC: Just to clarify, is the $2 million Creative Industries Fund on that same Creative Economy line?

            MR. GLAVINE: The total value is $2 million for the Creative Industries Fund for businesses focused on export growth, global competitiveness, and sustained export activity. The fund supports single projects as well as year-long proposals by professional organizations and supports one of the themes of the Culture Action Plan. We’re giving it a strong priority, knowing the potential of the export element that continues to grow. It’s open to businesses in film, music, publishing, craft, film design, and the visual and performing arts sector. There were 49 Nova Scotia-based cultural organizations and businesses that benefited from the $2 million investment in 2017-18. The applicants are developing markets in China; Europe including Italy, Spain, and the UK; across the USA in California, New York, and Illinois; and throughout Canada. Very often, they are able to leverage that investment as well. It tends to have a stronger impact than the $2 million that’s provided by our department.

            MS. LEBLANC: Going back to the Screenwriters Development Fund, you had mentioned that, to date, there were 25 applications, and 25 projects or scripts funded. I was wondering if you could talk about it. Is there a cap on that amount that you can apply for? Either way, were the projects funded to their full amount, or were they partially funded and that kind of thing?

            MR. GLAVINE: First of all, this fund was developed in consultation with Screen Nova Scotia to at least get the kind of start that we feel in the department will have long range and a strong reach especially among young screenwriters. Very often, these are small amounts. When we look at 25 applications and 25 people receiving funding this year, they aren’t big amounts, but they are amounts that sustain someone who is engaged in a particular project. When this particular fund was announced, it quickly had those 25 applications. It’s actually 50 cents for every dollar from the proponent. Right now, we wouldn’t be able to give the specifics on these grants, but of course, that will come out in time here.

            MS. LEBLANC: Is there a capped amount, though, that you can apply for?

            MR. GLAVINE: I have to get a little help on this one. We’ll have to get the criteria for you, and we’ll make sure that you have that. I’m not sure if there is a cap on the amount.

            MS. LEBLANC: I’m wondering who makes the award decisions for that program. I guess this is part of the criteria, but is it an arm’s-length process? Is it department staff who make the decisions?

            MR. GLAVINE: There is a panel that would make the recommendations for a particular year. Again, we’re fortunate at the department to have some pretty strong expertise in the area of screening and evaluating applications.

            MS. LEBLANC: Just carrying on from that, I’m wondering if the department has a direction or a philosophy in terms of funding projects. I remember sitting on a jury, and you rate all the projects in order of strongest to the weakest. Then you’re told how much money that you have to distribute, and decisions are made about whether we fund them fully or only half fund them so we can fund another project at the bottom of the list, that kind of thing.

            It was a long time ago when I did that. I’m wondering if there is a direction or a philosophy that the department has in terms of that. Is it preferable to fully fund projects until the money runs out, or is the opposite encouraged?

            MR. GLAVINE: In this case here, just to go back to the Screenwriters Development Fund associated with filmmakers, writers, and producers, it’s really to give an emphasis on local content. We have some wonderful stories to tell in Nova Scotia. Encouraging diversity and gender parity are part of the evaluation that would go on here.

            With the 50-cent dollar as well, that would be another factor that would come into play as to what the ask would be by each of the 25 applicants in this case. We also work with groups to have a realistic budget in sight. This is really directed towards the emerging and young writers. I know that there were actually some high school students who had applications in this case here. We fund what we can. Sometimes, we look to other funds as well to support someone who has a great idea and may fall within one of our cultural innovation areas as well.

            MS. LEBLANC: I want to go back to operational funding again for a second. Back in the Fall, I made an impassioned speech, and I have talked about this quite a lot, about an increase to operational money. From the department’s experience with the arts community, I’m wondering if you can speculate on the kind of impact that an increase in operational funding would have for artists and the industry. Just for arguments sake, let’s say a $1 million increase.

            MR. GLAVINE: Well, when we look at the uptake on the creative industries and the Culture Innovation Fund, we realize at the department that there’s going to a strong multiplier effect when those dollars get out to the artistic community. The philosophy of the department is that it’s not to be a guarantee every year but rather to be a springboard in some cases for a creative idea to come to fruition. I think it has been pretty enlightening even for the department to see the creative ideas that have come from both of these funds.

            We know there are certainly lots of pressures within the department for the funding we do have. In many cases, we know small amounts of funding are important. We know that any funding increase would be a help. It is difficult to speculate on the amounts. We feel very strongly about the budgets that we have for 2018-19 and the small growth in the department.

            Also, some of the targeting through the Culture Action Plan is going to have dividends for our province. It is a strong document. Its philosophy and the nature of the program developing are now emerging. Some of those applications that we have had on the Culture Innovation Fund - it has been so insightful, even for our department, to see the creativity that is available to us and to now see it come through the development of many genres that the fund will support.

            I did want to circle back. We are getting just-in-time information. On the Screenwriters Fund, there is no cap, and we will consider any proposal. Applications received are generally in the $15,000 to $20,000 range, which is what we would expect these applicants to require. They are young and emerging, and many are writing a script for the first time.

            MS. LEBLANC: I’m getting tired, but feel like we could debate this idea of operational funding versus project funding till the cows came home.

            I hear what you are saying about the funding being a springboard for creativity and all of that stuff. As in any sector, we do need foundational support for certain groups. I’m disappointed that I’m using this as an example at this moment, but we need the NSHA to be the foundational funding organization. I don’t mean to say that I agree with the amalgamation of the NSHA, but we need something there to be the foundational body. Then we can have projects that go out from there into the community and smaller things happening. Without that centre to the sector, then I think things would flounder.

            I am wondering if you see a major barrier to providing more operational funding, aside from the fact that you only have this much budget to work with, and you have to figure out how to spend your budget. I’m talking about if you were allowed to go to the Treasury Board and say, listen, we need $2 million more dollars, and this is how we want to spend it. What is the barrier to more operational funding?

            MR. GLAVINE: I did state earlier that this is the year in which we will be reviewing operational funding. I think that is important to do periodically. We will embark upon that. The needs of some organizations change over time, and there is more revenue generation, other funding sources that come along, endowments, et cetera. Right now, the operational funding comes under a number of areas, whether it’s the $14 million for regional libraries or the $1.7 million for provincial sport. Arts Nova Scotia’s operating funding to organizations is $1,344,000. When I met with that board and that group, I was impressed by how many of the creative organizations it represented, in terms of theatre and in terms of music, right across a tremendous range.

[9:15 p.m.]

            I feel confident in the recommendations and the disbursal of the funds we do have and the difference they make, but we do need to review operational funding, and we are committed to it. We will work with organizations to determine needs. We know that sometimes it may take a period of time to reach a little further to a sustainable model. Will the theatre group put on classes, work with school boards, and have some remuneration there? Those are the big pictures and the comprehensive approach that sometimes will be needed. We’re prepared to sit down with any organization. Many that we currently fund would like to branch further out in their work. We’re prepared to take a look at that.

            MS. LEBLANC: I wanted to ask a little bit of a new line of questioning. Does your department track trends in the accessing of arts and culture by the public? For instance, ticket prices - and this is not just in arts but also in sporting events and things. When funding is allocated, is there any sort of tracking of how the public is able to access the project?

            MR. GLAVINE: For our museums, for example, and patrons going to theatres, we would generally have a good handle on that. Obviously, there are ticket sales for many of our venues, and we would have accurate numbers of visitations and how many would be going to Neptune. Our sports events, there is a requirement in terms of their permitting, and a percentage that would be going to the province out of the ticket sales.

            Many of our sports and cultural activities, we would have a pretty good handle on, especially to see where trends are. That is a pretty important piece for us. Last year, probably in line with the Tall Ships and the tremendous take-up on the waterfront, there were 192,000 visitors to the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. Last year, at the Art Gallery, with an expanded Maud Lewis exhibit, we saw patrons to the Art Gallery increase. One of the most noticeable aspects of that is that we put a lot of merchandise with Maud Lewis’ folk art on it. We saw a dramatic increase in sales in the gift shop, for example. We’re tracking who is going to the Museum of Natural History, the number of people who go to Highland Village, the number that would go to Haliburton House. That is all tracked, and it’s important for future planning as well. We keep track of everything that we’re responsible for in CCH. There are other community museums where we rely upon their information coming back to us when they’re looking for support.

            MS. LEBLANC: Do you track or have you done any analysis on cost of admission versus numbers attending? What I’m getting at is, do you see a trend where accessing arts and culture and sport is getting too expensive for average Nova Scotians?

            MR. GLAVINE: That’s always a great question. That would require that kind of analysis. I’m sure that individual sites would be analyzing and taking a look at from year to year. Is it better to have a low entrance fee, and then volume provides a significant source of revenue?

            I would have to take a moment to see what kind of tracking we would do in that regard. You often hear, is $10, $15, $20, or whatever it may be for an event - is it pricing itself out for the average Nova Scotian? Is it a factor in attendance and participation? That kind of analysis would need to be done. Oftentimes, too, there are special features that would come to a museum that would boost strong attendance. Continuing to take a look at that is important.

            Sustainability is not just a buzzword. We’re going to be taking a look at our museum system in the future to look at the sustainability factor. How much will we need to put into revitalizing buildings? What do we absolutely need to make sure they are part of the Nova Scotia museum system for the next generation? Some of that work is being framed out in the department.

            We had a year with the 100^th Anniversary of the Halifax Explosion and a wonderful play that took place in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, an expanded exhibit. All of these are features from year to year that our museum and arts and culture sector do try to make sure they do capitalize on.

            The essential question you asked would require a deeper analysis, and it’s one that we in the department will need to ponder a bit.

            MS. LEBLANC: Just before the time runs out . . .

            MR. GLAVINE: If you have an example . . .

            MS. LEBLANC: If you’re doing more deep analysis, then I would also like to know if you can tell me, in terms of the community transportation plans, what you’re doing to keep those things accessible to the public. But that’s for another day, perhaps.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: One minute.

            MR. GLAVINE: We’re making a significant change in philosophy and programming, using the SHIFT document as the basis. When you’re looking at investing almost $2.4 million, we want to make sure that the basis of it is access - access to affordable, accessible, reliable transportation. If we can’t do that, then our whole Blueprint for Poverty Reduction for seniors engaged in their communities just won’t fly. It’s not going to pass the acid test if we can’t make it available to as many Nova Scotians as possible. I would like to expand on that.

            MADAM CHAIRMAN: Order. Time has elapsed for Supply for today. We will continue tomorrow.

            [The subcommittee adjourned at 9:26 p.m.]