HALIFAX, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2020

SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY

10:55 A.M.

CHAIR

Rafah DiCostanzo

THE CHAIR: Good morning, everyone. I call to order the Subcommittee on Supply. We are meeting this morning to consider the Estimates for the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage.

Resolution E3 - Resolved, that a sum not exceeding $96,890,000 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.

THE CHAIR: The honourable Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage.

HON. LEO GLAVINE: Good morning. I’d like to begin by acknowledging that we are Mi’kma’ki, the traditional territory of the Mi’kmaq people.

I am pleased to be here today to highlight the work of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage and to speak about our priorities for the year ahead.

Before I proceed, please allow me to introduce the members of my senior team who are joining me today. On my left is Justin Huston, the Deputy Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage; and on my right is Rebecca Doucett, Acting Executive Director of Financial Services. Behind me are a number of members of the CCH staff. I thank them for their attendance and their support throughout the year, especially leading up to the work on Estimates.

The mandate and work of the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage is fundamentally about investing in the people of Nova Scotia; in their communities, their businesses, ideas, culture and heritage, and well-being, and the ties that bind us together.

[11:00 a.m.]

Our goal is for Nova Scotia to be a place where cultural identity, expression, and economy prosper. A place that is known for strong, empowered, and vibrant communities and a strong creative economy where more Nova Scotians have access to opportunities for healthy, active living. We are working to address systemic racism, advance cultural diversity, and increase initiatives to promote, preserve, and celebrate Mi’kmaw culture and heritage.

Through our programming, we are making important investments across the province. In fiscal year 2020-21, 72 per cent of the CCH budget will be invested directly into communities through our various programs. This represents about $69 million flowing to community libraries and museums; recreation facilities; arts and culture organizations; professional and aspiring artists; businesses who want to make their premises more accessible; and welcoming organizations that are working to reduce poverty. More will come forward during our time on Estimates.

Madam Chair, three years ago my department launched Nova Scotia’s first Culture Action Plan: Creativity and Community, which guides our decision making, priorities, investments, and actions. This plan has changed the way we look at culture and has expanded our understanding of what the term culture means and the possibilities that it holds. It guides us as we work to build a reputation as a place where cultural identity, expression, and economy flourish; a place where all people honour and embrace diversity and heritage and thrive through creativity and cultural cohesion.

Through the plan, we are investing in culture to create jobs, drive exports, working with communities to address systemic racism, and promoting healthy living to help communities thrive. I’m proud to say that we have made significant progress in implementing many of the priorities identified in the Culture Action Plan.

As I’ve worked over the past almost three years with the Culture Action Plan, I’ve really appreciated that there are really just six main areas of goals and emphasis; I think that has really crystalized a lot of our work. We have collaborated with many stakeholders, organizations, and government departments to move actions forward and to make a meaningful impact across our province.

This past year, the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs launched Count Us In: Nova Scotia’s Action Plan in Response to the International Decade for People of African Descent. We are aligning our efforts to support its three pillars: recognition, justice, and development.

We drove awareness and economic growth of the culture sector by investments through the $2 million Creative Industries Fund to help Nova Scotia businesses expand their markets and develop export potential.

We promoted creativity and innovation through the Culture Innovation Fund. This Fund supports initiatives like Sisters of Science, founded in 2014, with a mission to inspire local young women toward careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. We provided them with a grant of $15,000. Just to accentuate that a little bit, this group won a national award last year and got to go to the West Virginia University for a week sponsored by NASA. What an opportunity.

Madam Chair, key to the work of CCH is the advancement of cultural diversity. I am proud to be part of a government that is working hard to address systemic racism in Nova Scotia. The story of the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children and the work of the Restorative Inquiry represent an opportunity for government to work to address the history and impact of systemic racism and inequality in our province.

Now that the report has been tabled, government remains a committed partner to the restorative approach modeled by the inquiry. We remain committed to the work as outlined in the final report. The Inquiry has provided us an opportunity to work differently and we are committed to working in ways that put people first. The strength, resilience, and desire for healing and reconciliation shown by the former residents is an inspiration to all Nova Scotians.

Madam Chair, my department is also advancing initiatives to promote, preserve, and celebrate our Mi’kmaw culture and heritage. That, of course, was the number one pillar in the Culture Action Plan. I’m proud to say that Nova Scotia will host the 2020 North American Indigenous Games from July 12^th to 18^th. These games are expected to draw nearly 6,000 people to Nova Scotia from more than 750 different Indigenous Nations, with 5,250 being the athletes. NAIG will feature tremendous athleticism but equally, if not more importantly, will allow us to continue a dialogue on truth and reconciliation. I’ll have more to say about the Games a little later.

Speaking of events, staff are executing our new Nova Scotia Event Strategy. As a result of our work, we’ve hosted several major events that have delivered significant economic impact, including the 2019 Memorial Cup, which generated an estimated $8.6 million in economic activity in our province. I think the real win here is that our province is now recognized in the hockey world, by Hockey Canada, as a place that can host national and international events. Just this week, I met with the commissioner of the Québec Major Junior Hockey League and he said, during the course of his lifetime, the Memorial Cup was the best overall experience that he has had in his involvement with major junior hockey.

Last year also saw us host the Scotties Tournament of Hearts and the World Junior Curling Championships. What is so wonderful about the World Junior Curling Championships is that they were held in a much smaller community than where many of our major events take place. Liverpool again rose to the occasion - about 300 volunteers made it an exceptional event.

In April, the eyes of the hockey world will be on Nova Scotia as Halifax and Truro play host to 10 teams from around the world for the 2020 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship. Led by an all-female local host committee, this partnership between Hockey Canada, Hockey Nova Scotia, the Province of Nova Scotia, and the municipalities of Halifax and Truro looks to leave a legacy of growing participation in female hockey across the province and to inspire the next generation of female leaders.

As an adjunct to the announcement we had on Monday in Truro, eight communities across Nova Scotia from Yarmouth to Port Hawkesbury, will have a pre-camp that will allow, especially our young female hockey players, to get out and meet teams from Finland, Russia, Czech Republic, the United States, et cetera. These again will be in many of our smaller communities across Nova Scotia.

We are also investing in home grown events like Devour! The Food Film Fest, which welcomed more than 14,000 attendees to Wolfville in October. Of course, there’s the Celtic Colours International Festival which provides an estimated $6.5 million in economic impact to Nova Scotia annually, according to the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. We provided $125,000 in support through operating assistance to cultural organizations. I think the real winner of Celtic Colours are the 200 events that are held across Cape Breton and generate unbelievable interest, music, and the communities coming to respond to the many tourists who come now from many parts of the world.

Hosting the various sports events serves to remind us how important physical activity is to our well being. To that end, in 2018, my department launched a five-year action plan to get Nova Scotians moving more and sitting less. Let’s Get Moving Nova Scotia helps to create more active, inclusive, and healthier Nova Scotians through education, improved access to funding, and partnerships with the private and public sectors. The benefits of physical activity include better general health, improved productivity, improved academic performance, and better mental health.

Using Let’s Get Moving as our starting point. I’m also proud to say that we partnered with our colleagues in the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development to roll out Phase 1 of a before-and-after-school, pre-Primary pilot program. The before and after school program is supported in 34 sites across the province. We know that increased physical activity and movement in the early years supports a lifelong healthy and active lifestyle.

The Nova Scotia Before and After Program is a great opportunity for children and their families, our recreation providers, and the regulated child care sector. The program also benefits older youth and young adults who are being employed at some sites and receiving quality training.

Madam Chair, shortly after we appeared here last Spring, our government was proud to announce funding for a new Art Gallery of Nova Scotia on the Halifax Waterfront. This modern and accessible space will attract artists and visitors from around the world. The new iconic art gallery and public space will provide access to art, culture, world class exhibitions, and festivals. It will also provide incubation space for emerging artists and feature the work of African Nova Scotia and Indigenous artists.

The federal government is contributing up to $30 million for this project, while the gallery itself will lead a capital campaign expected to raise another $30 million. The Province will contribute more than $70 million to this project with the exact amount to be determined following competitive processes. The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia belongs to all Nova Scotians and benefits us all. We look forward to its expanded presence in its new home. I will have a little more to say about the art gallery later in my remarks.

The Creative Industries Fund is continuing to promote growth in cultural businesses that are focused on global exporting. This past year, the $2 million program awarded grants to more than 68 recipients to cover up to 50 per cent of their eligible costs.

It is helping people to grow. Erin Costelo, a Halifax singer-songwriter, producer, and owner of Venue Records is using the $37,000 investment to help her Nova Scotia-based business grow national and international exposure. Tabitha Osler, owner of Faire Child weatherwear, is using her $64,000 in funding to help grow her fashion design business and export products to Europe, the United States, and Asia. Tabitha’s start-up company produces a line of children’s outerwear made from 100 per cent recycled materials, and ships products worldwide.

Last Spring, I led a second cultural trade mission to China and Japan. Five Nova Scotia artists joined the China portion of the mission to showcase their works alongside folk artist Maud Lewis, in an exhibition entitled, Terroir: A Nova Scotia Landscape. To date, 63,000 people have attended the Terroir: A Nova Scotia Landscape exhibit which has been shown at the Guangdong Museum in Guangzhou and the Coast Gallery in Zhuhai. It is now at the He Xiangning Art Museum in Shenzhen.

Mermaid Theatre’s Jim Morrow, who attended last Spring’s trade mission, speaks highly of the impact these missions can have. Mermaid was contacted by one of China’s leading entertainment promoters and signed a six-week tour to many cities for this Spring. It’s negotiating for a second tour tentatively from June to December.

Madam Chair, we are proud to be home to one of Canada’s oldest provincial museums that has been preserving, sharing, and celebrating Nova Scotia’s rich, natural, and human history for a century and a half. Last year, amendments were passed to the Nova Scotia Museum Act that will lay the groundwork for a more diverse and sustainable provincial museum system. As I’m sure you would agree, museums are important institutions which contribute greatly to our social fabric. They ensure understanding and appreciation for various groups and cultures, they promote better appreciation of our collective heritage, and they help foster curiosity. Furthermore, they serve to help future generations see and understand our history and recognize the achievements of those who came before them.

[11:15 a.m.]

Modernized legislation will help Nova Scotians enjoy the buildings, collections, and vessels that make up the provincial museum system for years to come. Last summer, more than 1,900 visitors took the opportunity to visit CSS Acadia over a two-day period, to see the 106-year-old vessel and the restoration work in progress at the time.

The evidence shows that Nova Scotians are interested in the more innovative exhibits. In fact, two years ago, the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History set a new attendance record of over 94,000 visitors when it hosted Body Worlds RX exhibit. Last year, more than 90,000 enjoyed Dinosaurs Unearthed.

This year, I’m really excited, and I hope all of us in this room will be the leaders and go to see the museum’s signature exhibit, Egyptian Mummies and Eternal Life. It features authentic Egyptian artifacts including mummies, painted sarcophagi, and votive objects that evoke the mythical, mysterious landscape of the tombs and pyramids of ancient Egypt. We are expecting to attract record numbers of visitors to this unique exhibit. I guess they were down the sidewalks last weekend, so we’re off to a great start.

The happiness, safety, and security of all Nova Scotians is vital to building strong, empowered communities in our province. To that end, my department continues to support the Building Vibrant Communities Grant program which is a vital part of government’s poverty reduction blueprint. These grants support collaborative community focus initiatives aimed at reducing poverty.

This year, Building Vibrant Communities Grant recipients included funding to community organizations for projects such as Eskasoni Mental Health and Social Work Services, $45,000 to support a sustainable food network within the community consisting of a supermarket, food bank, community kitchen, and kitchen tools lending library. The project will increase food security through access to nutritious and traditional food, kitchen tools, including those used in land-based hunting-fishing, while preserving Indigenous food knowledge.

Guysborough County Community Business Development Corporation received $40,000 for the Youth Transition Project which is designed to assist youth between the ages of 15 and 35 who are not in school, not in receipt of employment insurance benefits, and in need of assistance to overcome employment or self-employment barriers.

Digby Neck Consolidated Home and School Association received $4,350 to construct a greenhouse to provide, year-round, healthy vegetables to students, their families, and the community and tutorials offered by local farmers and specialists.

Madam Chair, I know it is important for Nova Scotians to have access to affordable, accessible, and reliable transportation. At CCH, we are committed to ensuring Nova Scotians in all areas of the province have access to community transportation that help them stay connected to their jobs, their schools, their social events, and their health care services.

I just would like to interject in my notes here. Last year, in attending the AGM of the rural transportation network, some of the most heartening stories that I have heard about how the community transportation changed lives were provided at such an occasion.

In 2019-20, CCH invested $8.5 million to improve community transportation throughout the province. These investments included $1.2 million for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality to purchase additional buses for their fixed-route public transport system to help address the increased demand from CBU students. About seven or eight years ago, this bus system was talked about at CBRM council looking at closure. The rejuvenation of this system is just remarkable.

There was $200,000 for the towns of New Glasgow and Stellarton to launch a fixed-route system, providing the communities with a fixed-link bus service for the first time in decades. There was $175,000 for Kings Transit to replace an aging fleet in their fixed-route system that services much of the Annapolis Valley. Also, the creation of a business plan to develop a transit system for Guysborough County residents, who currently lack transportation options.

These are just a few examples of the department’s work over the past 12 months. I must say when I went to Port Hawkesbury, we got a picture of Victoria County and what was happening there. I can’t let go of the opportunity to say that we actually have a bus route from truly the end of the Earth - which is Meat Cove - down to Neils Harbour to take people to the health services at Neils Harbour. I thought it was a remarkable moment, hearing of that. 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 2020-21. Let’s Get Moving Nova Scotia will continue to be a priority for our department this year. I am pleased to say we have secured an additional $1.245 million in funding for 2020-21, bringing the total budget for Let’s Get Moving to $3.788 million. The additional funding will be used to expand on existing programming and to launch a new public education campaign urging Nova Scotians to integrate small amounts of movement into their daily lives.

It will also be used to support schools in providing more opportunities for junior and senior high school adolescent girls to be active, as well as to support physical activity counselling within the health care system. I really want to see more adolescent girls participating in physical activity. Grade 11 girls now register as one of the weakest and lowest levels of participation and general fitness in our province. It needs to change.

I’m pleased to say that hosting of the 2020 North American Indigenous Games, or NAIG, is another of our priorities this year. It is the largest multi-sport event that Nova Scotia has ever hosted. NAIG will bring significant economic and social opportunities to our province, leaving a lasting legacy of development and growth for our Indigenous people.

CCH is supporting a significant amount of work and investment that will go toward community engagement and education about the beauty and history of the Mi’kmaw people. All volunteers will receive cultural sensitivity training. The celebrations, which will take place throughout the games, will enrich our collective understanding about the ties that bind us all.

Madam Chair, as I said earlier, I am proud to be part of a government that is working hard to address systemic racism in Nova Scotia. To that end, we are renewing our September 2017 commitment to a land titles initiative for a further two years. This initiative helps claimants in the communities of Lincolnville, Sunnyville, East Preston, Lake Loon-Cherry Brook and North Preston to get clear title to their land.

We recognize that for generations, many residents in African Nova Scotian communities have faced barriers to seeking and attaining clear title to their lands. We have created a team of three departmental staff to assist participants from the five communities, at no cost to the applicants. We have also contracted with Nova Scotia Legal Aid for the services of four additional staff. I am pleased with the progress we have made so far.

There are approximately 800 residential land parcels that need to be moved or migrated from the old paper-based system to the new electronic system, which enables the completion of sales and land transactions. To date, more than 300 applications for assistance have been submitted to the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs and, with additional requests made to Legal Aid, we have been able to migrate more than 90 parcels of land and are picking up speed. Individual cases vary in terms of their complexity, but most cases are progressing.

Another of our priorities for this year will be the new provincial art gallery on the Halifax waterfront. In January, we kicked off an international design competition for this iconic building. Our province has never had a design competition of this magnitude before. We are seeking an exceptional team of architects and designers to realize our ambitions. In the Summer of 2020, the field will be narrowed to three design teams before a qualified jury selects the winning team. This is an exciting phase of this project to build our new waterfront art gallery and public space. Our commitment, once again, speaks to the important contribution the arts make to our communities and to our economy.

Madam Chair, we all recognize the value of community libraries. They are more than just books and computers. They are places where people gather to interact, explore and imagine. That’s why I’m pleased to say that we have worked with library boards and municipalities on a new funding formula that better reflects their role in communities. It will see an increased annual investment of more than $2 million in our community libraries, with an additional $500,000 library development fund available to libraries for innovative and creative new projects.

This new funding will ensure the continued sustainability and relevance of our fine libraries. I look forward to the innovation that will be sparked by that $500,000 grant program. We got a bit of an insight into the department when some libraries applied to the Culture Innovation Fund and received grants for very innovative and creative opportunities.

Another priority for our department this year is our program improvement initiative. We had previously recognized the need for improved processes and reporting. We identified it as a recommendation in the Culture Action Plan. In the Culture Action Plan, we said we would enhance effectiveness and transparency of funding programs supporting cultural, sport and recreation facilities. We are committed to evaluating all programs, funds and grants, and ensuring that they are modernized and are best meeting the needs of Nova Scotians and communities.

The work will be done in two phases. The first phase, currently under way, will provide a better understanding of the emerging and changing trends, as well as the needs of the communities and the groups we serve. We will engage with arts and culture organizations to review funding programs to ensure they are appropriately assisting the sector. We expect this work will be completed in the Fall of 2020.

Another priority for our department is this Fall’s Frankfurt Book Fair, the publishing industry’s largest trade fair, where Canada will be the guest of honour. In addition to showcasing Nova Scotia publishers and literary artists, the fair will also promote Canadian artists, creative entrepreneurs, performers, museums, academia, tourism and the culinary arts for a full year leading up to this event.

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 and 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 several arts awards and prizes. They support such organizations as Symphony Nova Scotia, Neptune Theatre, and Ship’s Company Theatre.

[11:30 a.m.]

We also will continue to invest in the production of Nova Scotia film and television content. The Screenwriters Development Fund, launched two years ago, will provide $262,000 in 2020-21 to develop Nova Scotia film makers, writers, and producers of local content and to encourage diversity and gender parity. In addition, we will continue to provide $238,000 to Screen Nova Scotia in support of its role as the private sector lead entity for the film industry in our province.

Advancing cultural diversity is a pillar of the Culture Action Plan. I want to acknowledge the staff who work at the province’s cultural offices who work hard every day to make sure the voices of Acadians, the Gaelic community, and African Nova Scotians are heard and investments in their communities are making a difference.

Acadian Affairs worked with the Office of Immigration to explore funding options and other resources for initiatives targeted to attract more French speaking immigrants to Nova Scotia.

Gaelic Affairs launched Gaelic Nova Scotia: A Resource Guide, which will support the inclusion of Gaels language, culture, and history in Grades Primary to 12 in the province’s public schools.

Third, African Nova Scotian Affairs partnered with the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency and the Black Business Initiative to host Truro’s first African Nova Scotia Kickoff event which supported employment, promotion, and career development strategies in the skilled trades.

In the coming year, working with my colleagues Ministers Ince, Diab, and Delorey, we’ll continue to strengthen the Offices of African Nova Scotian Affairs, Acadian Affairs and Francophonie, and Gaelic Affairs. These are just a few examples of the work we’ll undertake this year to build strong, vibrant, inclusive, and healthy communities to create jobs; grow Nova Scotia’s exports; strengthen our creative economy; combat systemic racism; and 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 Chair, our research tells us that our investment in the arts and culture sector, as well as in the sports sector is paying off and yielding great benefit for Nova Scotians.

Culture and sport together contributed $1.08 billion to the Nova Scotia economy in 2017; nearly 16,000 Nova Scotians reported being employed in culture and sport jobs in 2017. 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 that can meet the needs of our citizens through libraries, sport and recreation facilities, community spaces, museums, events, and festivals. As I mentioned at the start of my remarks, 72 per cent of our 2020-21 budget will be invested directly into Nova Scotia communities through our various programs. Our budget estimate for fiscal 2020-21 is $96,890,000.

We know that our investments are making a difference in the lives of Nova Scotians and 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 could probably go for an hour because I truly am proud to serve as the Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage. Every day I witness personally the passion and commitment of the CCH staff and hundreds of community organizations we work with. It is amazing the number of people that I work directly with at CCH who have an unbelievable affinity for the job they do. That passion shows up in their work every day.

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’re truly passionate and a committed team as I noted earlier; they are making a true difference in the lives of Nova Scotians through their work. We are fortunate to work closely with arts, culture, sport organization, heritage experts, libraries, museums, municipalities, and citizens who each bring great ideas to help build a stronger province.

I love the fact that many of our people - yes, they get sometimes the wrong rub as civil servants, but so many in my department go out and reach out to the communities directly and that makes a difference. I want to thank them for their ongoing collaboration and partnership. I think you’ll see the work of this department even in a stronger way as we go through Estimates on the budget.

With that, I invite questions from my colleagues from the Progressive Conservative and NDP parties.

THE CHAIR: Thank you, minister, that was wonderful. We will start with one hour with the PC.

The honourable member for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.

LARRY HARRISON: I want to thank you and your staff for being here and answering questions that we may have concerning this department.

I can see that the success of the programs your department has would really have a great effect on the Department of Health and Wellness, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, Tourism Nova Scotia, and the Department of Community Services. As the health of our community culturally grows, this province is going to get certainly better, the collective culture of this province. I’m glad to hear that a lot of strides are being made in trying to get that collective culture in place; we will be much healthier for it.

I know, minister, whenever you talk about your department, you have a smile on your face all the time. I do appreciate the amount of work that you do and what it’s trying to accomplish. I just want to say the Egyptian thing - I haven’t seen it yet, but I was in Cairo. I went through the pyramids and the museum in Cairo. It’s a fantastic culture. It really is.

Are you ready for the questions, sir? (Laughter) With respect to the Culture Innovation Fund, how much money has been allocated for that Fund?

LEO GLAVINE: I knew the total of that fund because it’s one that has developed since I became minister.

I want to first thank the member, Mr. Harrison, for his opening comment about our department. I’ll reciprocate by saying that you indeed have been wonderful to work with during my three years as minister.

I knew that we had $1.5 million for the Culture Innovation Fund but of that, $200,000 is dedicated to the Healthy Communities Stream; $200,000 is dedicated for persons of African descent stream. That’s a little bit of what’s taken out and that has some dedicated funding in those two streams.

Over the last couple of years, this fund has been - I think for our department - one of those real delights to be able to support. Often artist groups and communities don’t quite often fit into an established program. As a result, the Culture Innovation Fund meets some very, very unique needs that people will call upon.

I can give a couple of examples. The North Preston Surf Program is a partnership between the Surfing Association of Nova Scotia (SANS) and Blxckhouse in North Preston to teach African Nova Scotian youth how to surf - something, again, that wouldn’t fit into a particular program. Their work collaborating with the community towards a shared goal of coastal access and enjoyment for all, really helped with that program’s success.

The Highland Arts Theatre diversity initiative used collaborative storytelling to engage international students at Cape Breton University, to create a five-night production for the community. I visited the Highland Arts Theatre on a recent trip to Cape Breton; I know maybe the former minister didn’t realize that it is in a church in Sydney now converted over to a theatre. What a wonderful way it has been bringing the community together. The theatre itself has about 175 nights a year in which different productions are going forward. This was a great way for students at Cape Breton University to express the international nature now that Cape Breton University has truly become.

These are a couple of areas that certainly we’ve been able to provide - Truro and Colchester partnerships are training and developing a more diverse welcoming network to retain physicians, for example. We have taken $200,000 of that work that we thought would, again, help create an opportunity to assist those communities that are having some challenges with recruiting medical providers, doctors, and nurse practitioners. It’s a wonderful stream of $200,000 that we have taken out of the Culture Innovation Fund.

Perhaps if I could just speak for a moment about that particular program. One of the areas that was probably overlooked in the recruitment process and that probably happens right across the country that we’re hoping can be filled by this particular stream is to allow communities to have medical personnel come in for a site visit. They can see the very nature, culture, amenities, and opportunities in that particular community and in the region where they have to bring their family - a partner and children. It’s now helping those communities to present in a very robust and holistic way, the nature of the community.

That’s within purview of the Culture Innovation Fund and allows us to do perhaps something even very unique in Canada around the challenges of recruitment.

LARRY HARRISON: How successful has that been with respect to getting doctors or nurse practitioners or whatever into a community? Has it seen any positive success at this point?

LEO GLAVINE: We are now getting close to the one-year mark in terms of having that first $200,000, or a good part of the first $200,000, go out to communities. One of the requirements of the money given - $25,000 to Yarmouth, for an example - $10,000 to a number of communities to develop a way of presenting their community groups, like NOW Lunenburg. They’re creating six-episode online series of videos which will take physicians from considering starting a life and practice in Lunenburg County.

[11:45 a.m.]

Just recently in Kings County, I was at an event to welcome 12 doctors to the larger valley community - I believe there were three or four specialists, and seven or eight GPs. There was a physician there from Middleton, one from Berwick, a number from Kentville, New Minas, and Wolfville who have come just in the last number of months. I feel that this more holistic way of presenting the community is very much going to be one of the assists, one of the tools if you wish, in recruitment.

This is just the first year. A lot of refinement is going on. It was kicked off in Lunenburg about a year ago. I had an opportunity to go and see first-hand the implementation and movement of this program out. So far, we are getting very positive feedback from the communities that have applied for funding and have received funding. They have created a much stronger way of introducing their communities to the physician or nurse practitioner that comes in for a site visit. We’re very strong on this aspect of recruitment. We think what will develop are some best practices as the program goes into its second year.

LARRY HARRISON: When folks apply for the funds, is regional equity part of the process?

LEO GLAVINE: I thank the member for that question. So far, I’m certainly aware of Yarmouth, Lunenburg, Middleton, Truro, Pictou, and Amherst receiving money. A lot will depend on the nature of the program that the local group and it is entirely a local group that are part of welcoming physicians, nurse practitioners, and nurses to their community when a site visit has been arranged. In terms of Truro, the investment was $25,000 and Lunenburg got $20,500, a lot depended on how they were going to present their community as far as the needs go.

The goal here is that while one part of the province may not have as big a need as another, all need to engage in ongoing recruitment. We know that, in fact, there are a lot of retirements. That’s probably what has hit our province and right across Canada: the baby boomers are roughly 57 to 74 and there are a lot of retirements. All communities have to be engaged in looking at now and looking at the future in terms of recruitment. So, the focus will be certainly province wide.

LARRY HARRISON: I can certainly see this program being very positive in attracting doctors. I do believe that communities need to take some responsibility for selling their area and getting doctors to come in and stay. I’m glad to hear that this is right across the province, especially in some of the more rural areas that really need the attention.

For all the funds that have been put out in the program, do you get final reports? How many have come in?

LEO GLAVINE: At the present time, I’m really speaking both in terms of some of my first-hand experience with communities and the department is starting to get some feedback, we will be getting reports from the communities that have received funding. I think that what that will help us do, of course, is to support future requests that will come our way.

I just also want to address the first point that the member made and addressed. The full exploration of a community is best done by those community members who have that work, social, and service engagement in our communities. We know our communities where we live.

One of the areas that was deficient in general recruitment was the fact that we kind of forgot a little bit about this is where the practitioner and their family are going to live. They not only come to a community with their professional expertise and setting up a practice, but they also come to a community to live. Of course, one of the big changes that has happened in the last decade and a half is the medical community putting a strong emphasis on a work-life balance, so they want to know what’s available. The physicians and nurses have recreation interests and hobbies and pursuits and they want to know if they’re possible in the area.

One of the big attractions in the city here, and it’s a good time for me to speak about it - they have a little bit of a true, wonderful medical hub here in Halifax. When I talked to some of the doctors - especially when I was Minister of Health and Wellness as opposed to maybe CCH - it was our theatre, our arts community here, the opportunities with symphony. Those are important parts of a medical practitioner’s life. They have to have time away from the stresses and strains of their practice.

If you have a vibrant museum and arts offerings, and we’re continuing to build that in our city - I think there’s a really big, direct connection through our Culture Innovation Fund in helping medical practitioners explore communities and the opportunities that would await them. Most of our regions need to be presented some, as well.

I found that a group like NOW Lunenburg, what a wonderful attitude and outlook they had. They said, when they come into our community, we’re going to present what Lunenburg has to offer but we’re also going to encourage them to explore other opportunities in the province. They feel that the gain of a physician or nurse practitioner for the province is everybody’s benefit. They have a wonderful outlook. They’re looking at actually going across Canada this Summer - they did this before in promoting movement of people to Lunenburg as a place to reside. They’re going to do another caravan across the country but with the emphasis on medical recruitment. They’ll certainly profile Lunenburg very strongly, but they’ll also speak about the wonderful province that we are all fortunate to live in.

LARRY HARRISON: I’m assuming there is a committee set up to look at all the applications that do come in. How many have been approved and how many have been denied?

LEO GLAVINE: I’ll have to get that from the department. But my first preamble about this program, especially where it’s new - our department knowing how important it is to recruit. The challenge of recruitment Canada-wide, in fact, North America-wide - we’re getting a picture of the needs of the next decade. We know the challenge that is there. Our department people are going out to the communities to assist them with their applications. We want these communities to be supported.

So far, we’ve had 12 approved and the total projects inquired are 13. Again, if in fact they weren’t meeting the criteria on the first go around, we were truly wanting them to be successful, and if not successful, our staff at CCH is actually going to work with the committee, and with that community, to really make sure that they get some assistance.

It comes in under the Culture Innovation Fund because these communities want to be innovative. Handing a doctor a pamphlet about their community may no longer fill the need. We have to move into that digital world; we have to get video presentation. We have to get first-hand accounts of what it’s like to live here.

One of the areas that I heard from a doctor at the Kentville celebration of 12 physicians was the fact that there’s no problem getting from a fellow physician what it’s like to practice in the Valley, or the array of specialty areas that are at Valley Regional. This would be replicated across the province with our nine regional hospitals.

The very nature of the community is really another area. This is where this particular effort through the Culture Innovation Fund, the $200,000 set aside, has been really a wonderful assist to those communities so far. I would certainly encourage the member and any of his Progressive Conservative Party that are able, to avail of the opportunity to go when one of these committee meetings are held. It’s really a tremendous insight into the people that are working for successful recruitment.

LARRY HARRISON: One thing I do appreciate about the department is the fact that they do assist people to fill out applications because communities, individuals, they really have a difficult time doing that. I know that on a couple of occasions the department has volunteered to help people fill those applications out. I really appreciate that.

Regarding the Creative Industries Fund, is any consideration given to reaching new markets when looking at the applications?

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you for the question. That’s an area where we’ve had tremendous success in Europe in terms of exporting our creative industries. Of course our musicians, as we all know - now we’re starting to see some of our theatre groups move into an international opportunity.

[12:00 p.m.]

When we take a look, just a couple of references that I made during my opening remarks, we have somebody like Tabitha Osler who is using funding she received to grow her fashion design business beyond Europe and the United States into Japan and South Korea; Japan and South Korea are wonderful market opportunities.

The Atlantic Publishers Marketing Association have been able to be successful in many parts of the world. I was certainly fascinated when I went to China and discovered a company there putting English materials into the Chinese schools - in fact, a Nova Scotian is engaged with this company. We’re going to see an even greater blossoming of those kinds of publishing opportunities, both in Nova Scotia and with the export of our products abroad. Whether it’s Abu Dhabi - we have a school using the Nova Scotia curriculum and the opportunity of published materials comes along with that, as well.

We are certainly looking at a whole number of opportunities not just limited to the music world. For example, when we had the last opportunity here in our province to host the music awards, we brought in a whole number of people from countries to take a look at export opportunities from our musicians. We’re going beyond that and have film, music, performing arts and production, fine crafts, and visual artists as part of this whole export opportunity.

When we went to Japan and China, we took along the head of the artisans for Maritime Canada - somebody from Nova Scotia that would open up those kinds of doors and opportunities. We also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in Quandong Province in China to help create opportunities for Nova Scotia’s vibrant and unique cultural products. On the second trip, of course, we included Europe: Germany and England.

It’s a $2 million budget area. My experience is that in 2019-20, this fund actually was tied to 77 recipients for projects that they brought to the international market. I think the dividends that we get back, again, are proving to be exceptionally strong. I know the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia love getting those orders for Maud Lewis. It took us going abroad to introduce Maud Lewis to a much wider audience.

LARRY HARRISON: Just a final question on that. How do you track what benefit to Nova Scotia occurs when a cultural project is consumed outside of the province or even the country?

LEO GLAVINE: I guess in terms of that final dollar analysis, it may be a little bit perhaps in the difficult realm. At the same time, we can track the number of discs and the music, the artwork sold; we can certainly do a tracking of that. I think sometimes the benefits perhaps are again over a longer period of time.

We now are getting into the category of about 65,000 who came to see the Maud Lewis and the five contemporary female Nova Scotia artists and their work. Getting to know those artists and what they can produce will probably have a bit more of a longitudinal opportunity for them over a number of years. I feel their works will still be for others to consume.

One of the big ones that I see coming forward - I had the opportunity again to go to Germany and put in a pitch for a very strong presence for Nova Scotia at the world book fair this Fall. We’re going to get an opportunity to present not just our publishers, but also our musicians, our artists, our culinary fare. All of that is going to be part of it.

Sometimes it’s the presentation that we will make that will bring visitors here to Nova Scotia. We have seen, for example, an increase from New Zealand tourists and German tourists to Nova Scotia. We’ve had a number of our musicians, especially, go and do European tours. We do track this.

I’m kind of more interested perhaps in the long-term value. Just as an example, our culture product exports grew by 61 per cent since 2010. China, the United States, and the European Union are important markets for Nova Scotia. So, we’re certainly seeing a pattern of growth and I believe our Creative Industries Fund has been instrumental in achieving that growth pattern.

LARRY HARRISON: How many businesses have received funds from this program?

LEO GLAVINE: Last year, 76 or 77 was the number of individuals, companies, that received support to get their product to market. It’s really helping to also move the marker around workplace innovation, productivity skills, small business development.

I was amazed at the connection when we brought the lead for Maritime artisans to Japan, to China, as well as Germany and England. The opportunities now to take artisans’ products to fairs in those countries; it’s that kind of exposure both in the short- and long-term which will lead to opportunity for our artisans. The applicants are really developing markets worldwide; we’re into Latin America, Central America, Australia, New Zealand. Really, we’re looking at the global opportunity for our artists and artisans.

I’m always reminded of the story that pretty well Rita MacNeil got discovered first down under in Australia and New Zealand and hit the charts there before she really became known Canada-wide. I see this as one of those opportunities that, over time, can be golden for our province, and therefore, the economic opportunities for that particular individual and company.

LARRY HARRISON: We certainly do have the artists to share, that’s for sure. We have a great resource. The requirements, are there any requirements for a portion of the funds paid out in the program to stay in Nova Scotia?

LEO GLAVINE: These funds would also be sometimes supporting work opportunities, whether it’s in design or manufacture. We would have this work associated with our artists and artisans being complemented by work here in Nova Scotia. Some products, of course, have a connection Canada-wide where part of a product may be made in another province, but it is creating opportunities.

When we look at any of those areas of manufacturing multiple copies of the same product, then this certainly is a benefit to the workforce here in Nova Scotia. The $2 million has that multiplier effect, for sure.

LARRY HARRISON: So, there’s really no requirement that a portion of the funds need to stay here? It just happens.

LEO GLAVINE: That may be the simplest and easiest way to explain it. We can produce a disc here. Whether it’s in the traditional form or more digital form, all of this can now certainly take place here. With some of our artists, they will make maybe 1,000 copies of a particular piece of work; these would all be numbered copies. We see that happening more and more with some of our artists.

From some of the exposure I’ve had over the last couple of years, for example, there’s a growing demand for art from our Indigenous artists. I think we’re going to see a real explosion there. Again, another connection to this Summer through the North American Indigenous Games; it’s going to be a great opportunity for our Mi’kmaw artists and artisans to certainly present what they do in their communities across Nova Scotia. There’ll always be a portion of that dollar that would actually be staying in the province, for sure.

LARRY HARRISON: I’m going onto a different topic. The major event hosting is enormous. For instance, I think the amount of major sports activities brought into this province in the last couple of years is fantastic. I know my granddaughter is looking forward to the world women’s hockey coming. What is budgeted to support major events coming to Nova Scotia?

LEO GLAVINE: First of all, I thank you for the question. If you think about it, for a province of less than a million people, the staging of national and international events is really quite remarkable. I have no problem saying that I’m actually, when I think of the need that we had to develop a bit of a strategy to make sure that we have a reference for the long-term, so we’ve brought in a Nova Scotia Events Strategy to attract and grow this area.

[12:15 p.m.]

Really, we a have a very small number of people in our department but their expertise now is recognized right across the country. As to when they present to organizing like world curling, the Juno Awards, the North American Indigenous Games, for example - we went up against Ottawa and Victoria to win that bid - anything of a nature like world women’s hockey, there are always other countries that are competing against Nova Scotia. We have a wonderful team.

We also have Events East which works out of the Scotiabank Centre. We join with them very often in the bid process and of course in the hosting process, as well. It’s also interesting that this strategy is getting smaller versions across the province. As a result, in the second year of implementation, staff have actually held province-wide consultations and helped stakeholders, regional groups, in developing a long-term plan by putting forth a strategy to be able to get major events.

Overall, there’s $425,000; not a lot of money when you take a look at what is generated. In just the Memorial Cup alone, $8.6 million of economic activity was generated in our province. It’s interesting that with the IIHF Women’s World Championship coming to Nova Scotia that there are going to be benefits for eight other communities: Yarmouth, Liverpool, Bridgewater, Berwick, Amherst, Pictou, Truro, and Port Hawkesbury. These communities now get a chance to host, for a week, the pre-camp. There’ll also be some exhibition games that local people will be able to do.

I’ve actually been quite amazed at what our small planning team have been able to do in terms of capturing the Scotties Tournament of Hearts. It’s not just a natural turn to kind of put on some of these events. We’re certainly looking forward to putting our bid in for a number of future events.

In terms of the Memorial Cup, our investment was $150,000; it generated $8.6 million in economic return. We’re seeing that this now is pretty considerable. We had $100,000 investment in the Scotties and we certainly heard from Sydney, and Cape Breton generally, what the returns are. We don’t have a big investment in Celtic Colours International Festival but ask those little communities around Cape Breton - you go up to the Gaelic College and they fill their big reception area for six successive nights. Again, very often it’s that local musical talent that we have in our province that we are cultivating and putting on enormous concerts for people from outside of Cape Breton that come to that part.

We’re very excited about what our team accomplishes on an ongoing basis. It’ll be interesting to see what the IIHF the world women’s hockey generates in our province; our investment there is $250,000. The member asked a wonderful question, at the same time, when we look at I think the cultural benefits, the full presentation of what we do in hosting an event is what I think is driving the opportunity for hosting future events as well.

LARRY HARRISON: I’d be very interested to know what some of the strategy is for getting these events here. You’re right. They are enormous events and really a benefit to this province and where does the money come from, too? The seed money, I guess it would be.

LEO GLAVINE: That’s a great question. Maybe he’d like for me to name the people in my department. I don’t know. (Laughter) We have a wonderful team that I would say are the leaders and the catalysts. Very often when we’re taking a look at what’s next on the horizon, I think it comes down to exceptional planning. If we look at our strategy: pillar one is developing funding themes to drive and increase legacy of sport, of communities, and culture; two is developing an event-friendly environment; and three, education and capacity building.

We’re looking well beyond just the strict women on the ice for the game or young players at the Memorial Cup. It’s a bigger event than that. At the Memorial Cup for nine days, we profiled nine different musical artists in our province that all are well known here. It gives them then an opportunity to expand where they may go for a performance.

Overall, I think the fact that we’re seeing the gain, our events as enormous opportunities to promote our province, promote tourism, and have a lasting legacy. We’re positioning our province as a destination with a unique experience. That’s when we talk about that Down East hospitality, that community feeling.

The group that are involved with hosting and all of the volunteers for the IIHF, for example, those communities that will host in the pre-week build up, they want a home-like experience - if you come from Czech Republic, if you come from Switzerland, if you come from Finland, Russia, or wherever - to go away and to speak about more than the hockey. That’s really the essence of our event-planning strategy and the team that is committed to executing that.

There area number of areas in terms of legacy, and this is really what happened down in Liverpool. They hosted the Canadian junior championship, male and female. When it was all over and the assessment done, they started to talk about why couldn’t we host the worlds. When the Canadian curling association analyzed, did an assessment, they could not find a single reason to deny little Liverpool the opportunity to host the worlds.

In fact, it was a great moment when I was there to announce the hosting. Curling clubs from Czech Republic, Russia, China, they first thought: Are they moving the games to Liverpool, England? Where is this little Liverpool on the South Shore of Nova Scotia? You can start to see what it does for our rural communities - just like Truro will be another centre for the IIHF games.

Gender equity, advanced cultural diversity, and as we know, the first pillar of our Culture Action Plan is to promote Mi’kmaw culture. We certainly will be doing that. The sustainability factor, as well; we want them to be economically successful. We all think at the back of our mind, I know it was big and it was great grandeur at the Olympic Games in Montreal. We don’t want to have to pick up the tab for events, so we’re doing great promotion.

Our team is bringing on the private sector to support if sponsorship is needed. To look after 5,250 athletes from the Indigenous communities of 750 nations across North America is an unbelievable undertaking. Our team is looking at the big picture, taking the pillars of our strategy and making sure they’re embedded into the work that’s now going on.

LARRY HARRISON: Do you have the ability to suggest locations for these events that might help some of the areas in the province that need that boost, economically or whatever?

LEO GLAVINE: When you have an organizing body like Hockey Canada, they have to certainly screen and look at facilities. They would have had to certainly take a look at these communities. Our team is working with Hockey Canada because we would know the community leaders that they can get in touch with and would certainly know that these communities - when you look at Yarmouth, Liverpool, Bridgewater, Berwick - all have state of the art facilities.

A couple of the connections that I really like as we talk about the world women’s hockey here this morning, is the fact that in two settings we actually have universities. We have Acadia University that will work with the Berwick hosting and we’ll have St. Francis Xavier University working with the Antigonish hosting. Again, it brings in a larger community of sport so that the off-ice training is well accommodated and every help and support for preparation for a world event is there before them.

LARRY HARRISON: Just one last question on this. If all the money had been spent in the year for these events coming in and another one came that was going to be a benefit to the province, culturally and economically, do you have the ability to find the funds to help support that?

LEO GLAVINE: You know some of these events are so great - not to be flippant, but I’d start a bake sale to be honest. There are special events that will come along. Certainly, the last world women’s hockey was 2004. We have the world women’s hockey now - 16 years apart. It’ll probably be close to 15 to 20 years before that opportunity may come back.

[12:30 p.m.]

I also want to pay tribute to Nova Scotians who get out to support. This building gets filled over here when we do have national and international events of the highest calibre. When a special event - and probably it’ll be a generation before we would ever get an opportunity perhaps to host the North American Indigenous Games - we want to make the most of it now. This is where, again, the province is able to say this is a special event and there could be funds made available beyond what I just gave you here.

The events strategy and that amount of money is certainly an ongoing work but then each event may require some additional and specialized funding. This is where the province, and I’m sure any government of the day, would not lose the opportunity to host the Memorial Cup on pretty well the 100^th anniversary of the Memorial Cup, women’s world hockey, or the Juno Awards. We put some money, again, available for these special events to make sure they are successful. Very often, this can also be the initial trigger, and of great value, to get the games solidified. Getting out early on what moneys you would make available gives the organizing body that sense, that oh my gosh, Nova Scotia really wants this particular set of games and are prepared to support it in a generous way.

The events strategy is really designed to have an ongoing look at what may be available in a particular year. You’re looking several years out because there are national events that occur every year, whether it’s the Scotties or the Brier. Just to give a little bit of a quick look ahead, we have the IIHF Women’s World Championship and the North American Indigenous Games in 2020. In 2022 we’ve already nailed down the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. In 2022 we also have the Canadian Tire Para Hockey Cup and in 2024, the Congress Mondial is already committed to our province. So, it’s ongoing, it’s looking out for a number of years.

THE CHAIR: You have just under two minutes. I was going to tell you five minutes ago, but I couldn’t get the minister to stop. (Laughter) So, just under two minutes.

LARRY HARRISON: A couple of questions on transit. How much money did the department invest in transit in the HRM?

LEO GLAVINE: I’ll have to get some help with that. I know we have supported community transportation all over the province. We are now invested at a bit over $7 million in the budget of 2020-21. In CCH we’ll finish off 2019-20 with about $8.5 million invested: $2.4 million through the Community Transportation Assistance Program and Accessible Transportation Assistance Program; an additional $2.9 million through the Public Transit Assistance program. I will have to get the HRM and perhaps if our two minutes are just about up . . .

THE CHAIR: Seconds, actually.

LEO GLAVINE: . . . we’ll have that for you when you return.

THE CHAIR: Order. The time has lapsed for the PC Party. We move on to the NDP.

The honourable member for Dartmouth North.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Thank you, minister, for your opening comments. Lots going on in this department; lots of great stuff. Lots of questions about it. I do have a lot of questions, so respectfully, I will ask you to give me just the facts, sir - just the facts, if you know what I mean. I want to get a lot of questions in.

The first one is, and you’ve probably predicted it already or at least your deputy minister has - I want to talk about operating funding for arts organizations and the freeze that has been on that funding for the last 10 or so years. Status quo funding means there isn’t any more funding room for new organizations to establish themselves long-term in, sort of, that operating grant pool. That locks out all sorts of innovation in terms of new art practices and, most importantly, new diverse artists being able to become established.

The organizations that I’m talking about are the backbone of arts communities and they’re chronically underfunded. A mere $1 million increase in operational funding across many arts organizations could translate into $30,000 and $35,000 increases. For smaller organizations like that, $35,000 is a whole new lease on life. It’s a full-time position, surprisingly enough to most people in this room. That’s the kind of salary we’re talking about in professional arts organizations so it would be having a major impact. We know that these funds are essential.

My question is: What are the barriers to offering more operating funding, to increasing that pool - this is specifically for arts organizations, I just want to make that clear. That’s the A part. The B part is that we were told that there was a program review taking place - last year you said that. I’m wondering when that review will be completed.

LEO GLAVINE: I certainly agree with the member from the NDP that these investments are critical to the arts groups that require some assistance with operational funding.

We also have a number of streams and areas that these organizations do apply for; we give more to many organizations beyond the dollar that is here for the annual amount that they will receive. I’ll just give one example, when I think of Ross Creek Centre for the Arts and Two Planks and a Passion Theatre - they’ve had some wonderful outreach programs with the school and artists in residence - we find other ways to assist these organizations. I know the Culture Innovation Fund has been certainly a stream that many of these creative groups have been able to tap into.

I believe perhaps we will, for the first time in a couple of decades, get a real good up-to-date picture from the review. We will see the first phase of that come forward for the Fall. I believe the Fall, again, is a great time for my department to review where we are. I know some of these theatre groups have wonderful Summer programs; they do very well at their box offices. We can always say there’s never quite enough for these professionals but any time a group has reached out to us, we have certainly, I think, found assistance for them through a number of other streams.

I think of LAMP in Lunenburg who work and attract some of the best artists globally. Some of them have a connection to Nova Scotia. They come and do phenomenal tutorials and mentoring. Again, we adjust a bit from the operating to what is it now they have a need for.

SUSAN LEBLANC: I know that we could sit and debate this question all day. I totally agree that there are excellent programs available at the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, really great program opportunities.

I would just like to point out, though, when organizations like Ross Creek Centre for the Arts and Two Planks and a Passion are applying for operating money and then need to supplement their budget by a number of other programs, which is a huge administrative burden for small and mid-level organizations - I would bet if we called Ken and Chris right now, they would say yeah, I’d rather have an increase in my operating than have to apply for a bunch of projects all the time. I get that projects are important and they’re specific and targeted, but it does not take away from the fact that they’re administratively burdensome.

Operational funding allows for stability. When you look at companies that aren’t as established as Two Planks and a Passion - there are companies that are emerging and are at that place where their work is good enough to be past emerging, but they can’t emerge because they don’t have the stability. Those organizations are the ones that are being kept out of that more stable system. There’s no way for those organizations to grow any further.

Again, I’m not going to talk about it anymore. You’ve heard me talk about it a lot, so I’m going to move on. The department overspent by roughly $9 million last year in what was called Development Programs and is budgeted to spend a million dollars less in that line than estimated this year in 2019-20. Can you explain what those changes are all about?

LEO GLAVINE: I’m certainly pleased to speak to this. When we look at what we spent in terms of infrastructure and programs, the biggest one is investment in community infrastructure of $7.84 million.

We had to move quickly this year with CBRM community transportation. The university, the mayor, and the Cape Breton transportation system simply put out an unbelievably urgent need for buses because of the expansion. They’re running at about 80 per cent or more ridership at the moment, primarily due to the university; we spent $1.5 million to support there. The Egyptian Mummies and Eternal Life exhibit was $369,000, and increased third party recoveries from outside sources to offset salaries was $185,000. We hosted the FPT Culture and Heritage Ministers conference this year and that would certainly make up most of what we have. For development programs, the forecast increase is $7.8 million for community investments.

[12:45 p.m.]

SUSAN LEBLANC: Just while I’m thinking about it because I don’t have it in my notes, but it was something that I heard you talking about earlier is the Culture Innovation Fund. Those great programs - the Culture Innovation Fund and the Creative Industries Fund - are those being oversubscribed to? Are there more applications than money available? If you can talk about how much more is being asked for than is available and if there is consideration of expanding the fund.

LEO GLAVINE: I don’t have the figure here in front of me, but I would say that every grant program we would have would be oversubscribed; it just depends on the program in terms of the degree. I sometimes say to myself, as I take a look at those who didn’t receive a grant and how great some of the organizations are and the work they do, that I certainly don’t want a job on any of these panels when I get through at the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage.

We have a huge demand and I think it’s speaking to the phenomenal creative sector we already have, but one that is growing. I think this review of our programs comes along at just the right time. We are at the tipping point of having to give a greater level of support, I think, but we will have that assessment and that work completed in fiscal 2020-21. One of the goals is to have a true picture of operational funding for the diverse creative sector groups that we have in this province. I know that in addition to what we put in the budget for this year we will certainly need to be looking ahead; I’m told the work will be completed by Fall. The project is well underway. As the member would know, it’s not a simple task.

There is a lot of work that will require a great deal of detail so that we make sure that our goals of the Culture Action Plan remain effective and efficient in their implementation and as we move it forward. The right level of funding is important, but the growing demand is certainly causing us deeper analysis of the work we do.

SUSAN LEBLANC: The review that’s happening, which will be reported on in the Fall of this year, will encompass all of these things that I’ve asked about so far. I will continue, then, to ask about Arts Nova Scotia.

This year Arts Nova Scotia has received a tiny increase of less than 1 per cent which, if you look at inflation, kind of amounts to a cut. Stable, long-term arts organizations are crucial to a healthy and thriving arts and culture community.

Given the oversubscription and all of what you just said about how vital these organizations are, can you comment on why you’re choosing to let Arts Nova Scotia funding stagnate, essentially cutting funding to arts organizations.

LEO GLAVINE: Well, we thought before we said to any of these organizations - we needed to meet with them. We needed to have certainly some budgets reviewed by the organizations. We needed a really strong assessment before we took a look at how the operating funding that we currently have would be built on for the future.

As we know some of the organizations moved to a much stronger level of self-sufficiency. Not the case certainly in all, but there are revenue streams that some of the organizations tap into whether it be the private sector, great advertising for the events that they do have. We know that the area of emerging groups is always very challenging.

Where we can see the evolution of some groups over time, whether it be Ship’s Company in Parrsboro, Eyelevel Gallery, Mermaid Theatre - when we look at their growth through the years, some of these now have reached much higher degrees of self-sufficiency. We want to take at look at where we should best target some of the groups that have great potential.

Look at what came out of a group I know that’s near and dear to the member, Bus Stop Theatre Co-op: Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, put out there now in the global market. This is why the member is so right about continuing to cultivate the small and unknown at times. We want to make sure that in our next budget we have it right especially for some of the emerging groups.

We know that we can always add more to budgets. We’re pleased with where we are provincially at this point in time. I know to grow the industry, we will have to do that deep dive that we’re currently doing and make sure that as we look at its place, Arts Nova Scotia - in relation to all we do - is treated fairly, but gives great opportunity. Opportunity is really what the creative sector has to look at; that’s how they forge their future. I thank the member for raising it and recognizing the challenge that is before us.

SUSAN LEBLANC: I just want to point out, and I’m not going to get into he-said-she-said - the Eyelevel Gallery has not reached the level of sustainability that you’re referring to in the same way that Mermaid Theatre or Ship’s Company has. They are struggling and they need assistance, so just in case that was written down. I want to make sure that that’s flagged.

Last year at Estimates, we had a great conversation about the Culture Action Plan and how it can impact Black and Indigenous communities and how - for sure at least in my sector, in the arts sector - we still have a real unfortunate lack of diversity. We have an amazing diverse population of artists, but there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of Black and Mi’kmaw artists getting a break.

I’m wondering if you can tell me what the department is doing to support Black and Indigenous artists and grant applicants. Are there specific program officers who are targeting those populations and helping them to understand what programs are available? Can you update me on any specific work to increase diversity of grant recipients?

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you very much for certainly a very important question. As the member is, of course, well aware that in the Culture Action Plan, we did make the Mi’kmaw community the first pillar to see our 13 Indigenous communities really get an opportunity to expose the strengths of their community. We know that music, especially the drumming - that’s becoming a mainstay in the start of many of our events across the province, and an opportunity for their artists. It’s one of the areas that these communities themselves are realizing their future is very much in their hands, the sustainability that they have.

There’s a real connection, as we know, that if an artist or artisan produces a piece of work and they have an opportunity to sell it. There are two places in particular in the Indigenous community that I would bring to the attention of the member. When I went to Eskasoni and Whycocomagh quite a number of years ago, both have shops that tourists can go to - we know now that Eskasoni has opened up a wonderful tourist opportunity to go out to the island and explore and experience five or six different presentations - when they started in their gift shop, 75 per cent was imported in both the communities that I mentioned. They are now turning this around and only 25 per cent is imported. Their arts and the artisan work from necklaces to small decorative baskets to actual artwork; they are producing and they’re seeing the rewards themselves.

I certainly am a proponent that we will certainly do as much promotion as we can. CCH staff and the African Nova Scotian Affairs staff will meet to help explore their potential about grant programs. When I was recently in Eskasoni, we took a look at a couple of their needs and we had department members reach out to the community to assist with that.

There are creative leadership awards that showcase Mi’kmaw and African Nova Scotians. The Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council is doing more meetings in communities to ensure they are reflective of our province. I think NAIG is going to be a unique and wonderful opportunity for our Mi’kmaw artists to display their work. We all know that our museums and AGNS have had Indigenous and African Nova Scotian focused exhibitions.

I believe the real challenge for us is to see more of those get across Nova Scotia. We can certainly go down to the gallery here and see some of those exhibitions. It’s my hope that small galleries across the province, but also, perhaps another role for our museums - I believe there is a real need for rejuvenation of program development in our museums across the province. Again, doing some gallery type work perhaps in our museums may be another way of attracting visitors and tourists.

We’re in the process of working with all of our museums, both the 28 that are funded by the province and our CMAP that are funded but community board driven, that we get some of these Indigenous and African Nova Scotian exhibits that we’ve seen certainly here in metro and get them out across the province.

[1:00 p.m.]

SUSAN LEBLANC: I’m just going to change direction a little bit here. There are a number of initiatives in recent years - a year or two, particularly - which have caused me to wonder whether there’s sort of a mission drift happening in the department. I want to ask a couple of questions about that.

The first one I want to ask about is the before and after school care for pre-Primary students. I want to be clear that I actually think that the only way pre-Primary can work in this province is if there’s proper before and after school care. The government - your colleague - makes a lot of to-do about how it’s such an amazing program, but the fact is that there are a number of families that can’t access it because both parents work 9-to-5 jobs.

It’s impossible to leave your job at 2:30 p.m. to pick up your kid from pre-Primary. The only reason I was able to put my kid in is because it was in the CSAP program and they already had that established forever in that 4-plus program. I do love pre-Primary, don’t get me wrong.

Why did the government decide to create a separate funding stream and regulatory regime for before and after school programs for pre-Primary kids, as opposed to kids of all the other ages?

LEO GLAVINE: We know that the before and after program is a critical piece to the success of the pre-Primary program. In its first implementation, we know that across the province there would be different needs and requirements. We wanted to take a look at what already exists in some communities. We needed to see what the level of before and after school programs would be required in the sites.

We weren’t very long into the pre-Primary when the realization came that we had to do more in terms of the context of a full day when parents work, whether it’s 8-to-4 or 9-to-5. We know that we had to make this big connection. We looked upon it as an opportunity to get a program that we were starting to develop around the same time - a federal program called Let’s Get Moving.

We were one of the first provinces to let the federal government know that we were ready to go. We had initiatives that we wanted to embrace and embrace right across the life cycle. We felt that if we could get the 4-year-olds into physical activity and movement in a before or after school program around physical literacy, it would be a long-term benefit.

We also had to find out whether it would be best supported by existing groups in the community like a YMCA, or would those early childhood educators who are already in the school be wanting to be part of delivering a before and after school program? There was a lot to find out about what would be, in fact, the best practice and how it would work for parents.

We have 35 sites. There’s a lot of learning that is taking place from those sites. We have supported them so that the rate to the parent for the after school program is affordable. We gave bridging financing to some of the sites because we know that about 10 children, whether in the pre-school program or those siblings that would stay. We need about 10 in each of the sites for it to be feasible to run.

Some sites weren’t quite at the 10; they maybe had eight or had nine. We provided some bridging financing because we’ve continued to see the Before and After Program grow over the last three years.

That may not fully give you the full picture. Having been an educator for 30 years, any time you implement a program there are local and unique needs that have to be weighed during the implementation, during the execution. We’re committed to a before and after school program. I think over time, while the target is on the pre-Primary, we also want other family members that can be a part of it. We’ll continue to learn from Phase 1 of the Before and After Program and look at what changes for the long-term will be needed.

SUSAN LEBLANC: I would like to put a plug in for as much physical activity before and after school as possible for every age group, because kids need to move. If you’re working on it, here’s my little plug for trying to influence after school programs to implement more physical activities all around - EXCEL and all of the other programs.

Getting back to pre-Primary, Whitney Pier Youth Club was approached as a possible site to administer the program but decided that it was not able to participate. A spokesperson from the club said: The main concern is, as a not-for-profit organization that continues to battle with financial pressures and barriers, that we cannot take on a project that will not be beneficial to our club.

Why do you think that the program would be described as not beneficial to an organization like that or to that club in particular?

LEO GLAVINE: I’m very, very interested in the statement that the member has made. We were hoping, in fact, that they would be one of the organizations. They have a proven track record and do provide an excellent program in the community.

I would have to drill down a little bit further - perhaps next time in Cape Breton, meet with them to see if there is a way that they can be part of the future of delivering the before and after program. Perhaps in the schools in which they were asked to run the program, maybe the number was so small that it wouldn’t cover off the cost of the people delivering the program. That’s the first basic requirement, as we know, is that staff have to be paid.

In fact, they were very early to say they wanted to be part of the program. I thank the member for bringing this question forward. I know we can have our staff, in fact, reach out and see what it will take to have them as part of the delivery of the program. I’ve only heard good things about the work from that organization.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Thank you. Madam Chair, how much time do I have left?

THE CHAIR: You have 26 minutes exactly.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Fantastic. When I was talking about a mission shift in the department, the other thing I wanted to talk about is the mental health walk-in clinic pilot program at the North End Community Health Centre.

When this reached the news, that the project funding had run out for this pilot, obviously it was a big deal. A lot of people were paying attention to it, you included. I was surprised to know that it was funded through a Building Vibrant Communities Grant. I get it. I think the mandate of that grant is good. For something like a mental health walk-in clinic, it seemed to me that it should come from the Department of Health and Wellness. That was my first thought.

Following all of that when that happened, you announced that funding had been found for it. I’m wondering: Has permanent, sustainable, ongoing funding been found for the program at the North End Community Health Centre, or is it sort of an extension of the project grant?

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you for the question. It’s a really important question. This is often the case with programs like Building Vibrant Communities and, again, the Culture Innovation Fund. They lend themselves to, I guess, the opportunity for organizations to say look, one of our big needs at the moment is to have an expanded mental health program as part of widening what the North End clinic does.

I got to know the North End clinic pretty intimately when I was the Minister of Health and Wellness. I loved going there - the nature of the work and the people who carried out the work. If anybody hasn’t been there, I would say go and see what they do. I was so pleased to get them into a decent building. That was one of the achievements, for sure.

Our department, with the Building Vibrant Communities program, gives organizations an opportunity to certainly make an application - this is where this pilot came from. Then when the pilot was over, they applied for two grants. However, they just kind of mentioned Pause, I guess almost in passing, and never really applied directly to make sure they had the money to run the Pause program. All of a sudden, we gave them support for one grant, but they didn’t have it for the second grant.

Of course, the area most affected was the need for dollars to run the mental health walk-in clinic. Once we took a look and reviewed at how well the pilot had gone, again, as often happens in CCH is that - my gosh, this is so good, we’ve got to keep it going. This happens with a whole range of programs in CCH because we want to build stronger communities, whatever program it takes.

The big question I know you’re asking here is, what of the future? We know now that we are probably going to look to the Department of Health and Wellness to make sure they have sustainable funding for the future. We made sure they have funding for this year, but we’re now having the Department of Health and Wellness take a look at what the need will be going forward.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Thank you. That’s good. We will follow up with the Minister of Health and Wellness on that.

It’s clear that a community needs this type of mental health care. A walk-in clinic is a perfect - maybe not perfect, but a great idea; mental health care when you need it and where you need it. Something that I’ve heard certain caucuses talk about an awful lot, actually. I’m happy that you’ve supported it again. I’m glad it’s going to be considered for the sustainable funding.

[1:15 p.m.]

Are there plans to expand the program or the pilot in other communities? I’ve heard the Minister of Community Services talk about this an awful lot with some of the grants that they use. I guess it’s the same program, maybe. The idea is that they’re looking for the things that work best and then they will use those for the blueprint to end poverty. She talks about this a lot. Is this the kind of thing that could be emulated in other communities across the province? Are there plans for that? Where else might it go? I’ll stop there for now.

LEO GLAVINE: Certainly, the member here touches upon a very, very good point. The Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage is working with diverse communities. We’re working with the changing nature of Nova Scotia, both in HRM and in smaller communities across the province.

We’re always having to make adaptations. We’re a department that is prepared to innovate and support new directions that communities want support on. This could, again, very well have that kind of flexibility and have the psychologists, social workers - those that are able to support a drop-in clinic. Again, great results. We looked at the numbers.

When a good program comes into existence, it really speaks for itself. How can you not fund something that is making a difference in the community? This was certainly a case with the walk-in mental health clinic. It could have, certainly, adaptations in other communities where there’s obviously a need for an array of mental health supports.

SUSAN LEBLANC: From that answer, I hear you say you like this idea, but it doesn’t sound like there are any concrete plans. If there are no concrete plans but you are willing to hear from communities, how should a community approach the department for this kind of discussion? If there are concrete plans, can you let us know what they are or when we can expect to hear about them?

LEO GLAVINE: One of the areas that we continue to work on and strengthen in the department is to get sound evaluations from the grants that we get. This can help us then decide, is this an area that we should continue to support in a sustainable way? Is it a program that we make available to other communities?

Now that the pilot is being sustained at the North End clinic, but may certainly be transferred over to the Department of Health and Wellness, we’ll certainly work with them with the findings that we have. We know that there’s certainly a number of new programs that have come out of the Department of Health and Wellness.

I just look at the increase in the budget for mental health, going back from 2013 when we worked to implement all of the targets and goals when the NDP brought in their mental health strategy at that time. This still continues to be an evolution of some mental health programs. This could very well be one that the Department of Health and Wellness will review and see its benefits.

Certainly, no matter what the nature of the program is, we have to offer - lots of times it’s out of the criteria of an existing program and that’s why we have liked so much the Culture Innovation Fund. It has really broadened the areas in which we support developing stronger communities. We certainly have no problem with communities advancing a proposal. We would certainly have our branch at CCH take a look.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Thank you. I want to change tack again and talk about the new art gallery. You did talk a little bit about it in your preamble, but I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. I understand that this Summer, there is the design contest. Based on that next step, can you give us an updated timeline for the whole project?

LEO GLAVINE: We currently have a strong number of design proposals before us. Over the next while, there’ll be a team from the department, the art gallery and Develop Nova Scotia that will go through the onerous challenge of getting it down to three submissions. Then during the Summer, we will take the three submissions and that’s when a different expert panel will take a look. We don’t have a date, but I would think by Fall that we’d be getting pretty close to the company that would be selected to design the new art gallery.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Is it fair to say that we’re looking at a ribbon cutting in 2023-24, or somewhere in there?

LEO GLAVINE: The final design team will be chosen by a qualified jury of professionals. It’s scheduled for Summer 2020. Once that selection is done, work is going to begin. The goal at the moment, barring any unforeseen difficulties and challenges, is aiming for fiscal 2023-24.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Did the department do any analysis of a decision to use a P3 model over a traditional build in this case? If so, can that analysis be provided to us?

LEO GLAVINE: This is a very, very significant project for the province. I feel that it’s going to give us a footprint on the waterfront of art and culture and tourism and commerce that, for the size of the footprint, I think will equal many jurisdictions, actually, around the world.

This is to be an iconic place of gathering, of artists, festivals, music occasions, and artists to display their works. We felt this needed to be a provincial investment. We know that TIR is a lead in making sure that the engineering and the oversight is provided by them. It’s really the province, the feds and the gallery, which will do its capital campaign, that are all part of the investment here.

This is what we have spoken to, certainly, from CCH’s perspective. Our government really took this on to have that kind of tri-investment, if you wish, in what will become one of the major investments in the creative community, probably in this century.

SUSAN LEBLANC: From what you said there, it sounds like the cost of the design, the build, the management and the financing of the new art gallery will be done through the province and not through a P3 model. Is that right?

LEO GLAVINE: Yes, that’s how we looked at this project in the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. We wanted for our government to invest in the creative sector in one of the biggest ways, perhaps, in the last couple of hundred years.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Make no mistake, I’m excited about this building. You mentioned the Halifax Waterfront. Speaking of the waterfront, according to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, sea levels in Halifax Harbour could rise more than 1.5 metres by the end of this century.

Given the scale of this project, what analysis has been done on sea level rise at the new art gallery site? Was any consideration of sea level rise included in the design competition in terms of accounting for sea level rise at the site and how it would be designed and built?

LEO GLAVINE: We had to go through the technical work of the site, getting the archaeological go-ahead for the site and the whole geological structure of the area. As we took a look, both at cost and being proactive around any rise in sea level, we certainly moved away from underground parking. As the build goes forward, we know that the reality of climate change and rising sea level will have to be a part, in fact, as we design.

This will be included in the design competition, that we are building for the future. I think, again, perhaps other buildings will have to make accommodations; we want to be proactive with this project.

SUSAN LEBANC: Changing direction again, last Fall I was glad to see the release of Count Us In: Nova Scotia’s Action Plan in Response to the International Decade for People of African Descent. As you’ve mentioned, and as we all know, a government-wide approach to tackling systemic racism is greatly needed in Nova Scotia.

I’m wondering why there’s no additional funding to African Nova Scotian Affairs to implement the Count Us In plan.

LEO GLAVINE: We felt that, you know, we were needing to make sure a couple of our pieces of work in the department went forward in a strong way. I think the work of the land claims is a signature piece of work for this province. In many ways, it makes one of the strongest statements about where we place the importance of the African Nova Scotian community and their rightful place to own land, the land many have lived on but have never had title to.

[1:30 p.m.]

We feel this investment is a true part of Count Us In, in that they are like other Nova Scotians. They will be able to say, “This is my property.” To think, for over 200 years, that has not been the case. The work, as we know, on restorative justice - the Home for Coloured Children - just, again, getting over this year. We’ve made a number of significant investments - $500,000 in community ongoing grants; $346,000 for the land titles; the restorative inquiry.

We’ve made investments that I feel are part of the decade of making sure that the African Nova Scotian community gets in a better place through the initiative of the United Nations. What we are doing, and what our Premier and our government have committed to, I think are some of the strongest initiatives that we have seen in our province.

I think the wider commitment through a number of departments will contribute to the Count Us In goals that I know are front and centre. We have that awareness in our department. I love the fact that the banner is displayed and it’s top of mind for us in a lot of the work that we have done and will continue to do throughout the decade.

Again, designating Africville as a place for Heritage Day this year. All of these initiatives are really part of a big picture around what we are doing but also what we need to continue to do for the African Nova Scotian community.

SUSAN LEBLANC: I appreciate all of that investment and those programs and that work. The Count Us In plan, however, is a new initiative. If we’re serious about - systemic racism exists in so many aspects of our society and community and government and organizations that there’s much more to do. It feels like a plan without any kind of investment or any kind of backing presumably won’t be as effective as it could be.

Can you tell me about the evaluation strategy for measuring and tracking progress on the Count Us In plan?

LEO GLAVINE: I do want to point out that Minister Ince is the minister directly involved with African Nova Scotian Affairs. As Minister of Communities, Culture and Heritage I’m pleased we have increased the FTEs just recently from 11 to 16. We had a pretty meagre $30,000 grant program that’s now moved to $500,000.

I feel what we will do in the coming years has a very, very strong starting point in addition to the programs that I already mentioned. We have a deputy ministers’ committee that meets on a regular basis. As we know, 2018 is just a short look back but we’re putting together a framework for assessing Count Us In to have a more fulsome development as the decade moves along.

SUSAN LEBLANC: Thank you for those answers so far. I really look forward to talking some more.

THE CHAIR: Thank you, Ms. Leblanc. The time has elapsed for the NDP. We move on to the PC party.

The honourable member for Argyle-Barrington.

COLTON LEBLANC: Merci, madame la présidente. I just want to take a couple of moments just to follow up to the line of questioning that I had asked the minister before and even addressed it through a letter last year.

It’s regarding funding of my constituency’s municipalities that fall under his purview. They play a very important role to the tourism sector in my part of the province. They rely on funding support from this government. What I’m hearing is that there hasn’t been any significant increase in around 10 years. They’re facing struggles due to decreased availability to student grants, but yet minimum wage has gone up.

This is particular to Le Musée des Acadiens des Pubnicos et Centre de recherche. They’d like to see some changes to the Community Museum Assistance Program particularly to be reflective of the hard work that they do. They’re a research centre. They’re an archive centre. The cost of that continues to mount each year.

With the Barrington Woolen Mill, part of that falls under the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. It’s my understanding that they own the building. They have windows that are falling and paint that’s peeling off and a roof that’s in dire need of replacement. They’ve continued to make a list of these issues and they’re failing to have them addressed by the government.

I’d like just to see what plans are in place to be reflective of the hard work that these museums and organizations do to preserve our history and culture and to promote it to visitors to our province. How will the minister’s department assure that support?

LEO GLAVINE: I just wanted to first let the member know that I have some information for his colleague, Mr. Harrison, who asked about the commitment level of CCH’s community transportation for HRM. He wanted a bit of a breakdown on that, so you can let him know. He asked the question, so I just wanted you to pass on that I’ll provide that. I thought he was going to be back here asking questions.

The member raises a very important question not just about the village in Pubnico, but rather the CMAP. I know as minister, and I know in conjunction with the department when I came in, we knew we had to look at the sustainability of our museums across the province. Probably due to our 400 years of history, we have the most supported museums - obviously on a per capita basis, but maybe just in sheer numbers - against many of the provinces in Canada.

We support 28 museums fully and about 67 through the CMAP. We have a tremendous range of degrees of sustainability in those 67 CMAP community-supported museums. We’ve been going through a review process. I know that the assessment here has been a pretty rigorous one.

We are currently just a little bit shy of $1 million in supporting community museum assistance. As the member stated, whether it’s Barrington’s historical society or it’s Pubnico, we really have 67 that have different degrees of need at the moment. What makes it difficult is that we also have some tremendous leaders in the CMAP category that have said, Our community values our museum and we’re just going to find every way possible to sustain our museum.

We are starting to take a look at those museums that have risen to the challenge of greater local sustainability and supporting themselves. In essence, while staff are exploring ways to update their programs, we have some great examples of museums that are already meeting the challenge of making their museum so attractive that - guess what? They’ve increased their attendance year over year for the last five years. They’ve decided that they’re going to be the authors of a more sustainable, more vibrant, and a tourist-attractive museum.

Those examples are there, so how do we give a leg up to those that are really not meeting what the department sees as a higher standard for the CMAPs? Our staff have been meeting for some time, actually, and will continue to meet with those museums to update their programs.

I think we need to go back here, and I think any government would say that this is an assistance program. These are museums that communities see as valuable to their areas to help maintain their unique culture, how they keep the heritage that is so important to our province. We have to find ways of having stronger programs existing in the CMAP.

In your area of Pubnico, I know that the Acadian Village really does a terrific job. I’ve been in some of our museums that are happy with the level of support that they’re currently getting. We have others that are in need because the buildings are no longer in the condition - we know buildings today have to meet code. In terms of meeting code and looking at their futures, a number have tapped into the accessibility program that we now offer.

They’re making the washrooms more accessible, entrance into the museum, all of the buildings so that they’re wheelchair accessible. For example in Cheticamp, Les Trois Pignons - a museum, a hooked-rug gallery and genealogy centre - was awarded $10,000 through the Community ACCESS-Ability Program and $30,000 from the Community Facilities Improvement Program. You can actually use that CFIP program to be able to get support for museums.

[1:45 p.m.]

Very often, some of the CMAPs discover when they contact the regional director, there are actually other programs they can tap into. I know there was one grant for Pubnico that I signed off on in the past year, but there may be other programs and grants that can provide assistance.

The CMAPs are intriguing. In some instances, they’ve been holding on to what they have, but they haven’t done much in the creative and in the innovation area to even want the local community, perhaps, to have them make regular trips and so forth. We want to find a stronger, perhaps a circulating, program that would have a general appeal, as well as the unique features of the local CMAP community. You raise a great and very important issue for our CMAPs.

COLTON LEBLANC: You mentioned the Acadian Village and they do great work, as well. They’ve reached out to me. I guess just the point that I want to make is that some of the CMAP museums that are partially funded, and then the museums that are fully funded - some of them do equally as much hard work and they play such an important part to my constituency.

With the Congrès Mondial Acadien - the Acadian World Congress - coming up in 2024, I think - it’s certainly on your department’s radar to make sure that we’re ready to welcome these thousands of visitors from around the world, that our attractions are top-notch. Not to say that they’re not top-notch now, but that they’re going to be in an immaculate state and visitors will want to return.

With that statement, I thank Minister Glavine for his comments and I’ll pass it to my colleague from Pictou West.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Pictou West.

KARLA MACFARLANE: Thank you for being here. Welcome. First of all, I just want to say thanks to the minister and his department. Any time I’ve had to write a letter, I’ve always received a response. I also want to thank the department for contributing to the most recent grand slam event that happened at the Pictou County Wellness Centre, which is located in Pictou West. It was such a success. The economic benefits were great, so thank you for your investment and faith in believing in that event and contributing.

I just have a couple of questions. It’s focusing mostly on the Town of Pictou. I believe in 2013 - it might have been 2014 - I had the pleasure to connect with a number of the Liberal colleagues that came to Pictou to announce funding to start preparation around the possibility of building a new library in Pictou. We’ve come a long way. We have municipal support. We have federal support. I’m wondering if the minister could possibly update us on what provincial support we have and any timelines that I should be aware of.

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you and welcome to Estimates. It’s great to have a variety of questions and areas. Local concerns, of course, are always very, very important.

The project has come before the department. I’m sure you’re referencing the deCoste Centre and library. As I met with folks from Pictou, I thought of a couple of areas across the province that are being transformed by a culture-education kind of hub. That’s what I saw in this particular project - the physical challenges of the library right now and how that whole block could become a wonderful little centre of culture and learning for Pictou.

We’ve been reviewing the project and I am not sure about some of the specifics that we have asked for because in the final analysis, we have to work with the federal government and show them the specs and the plan in terms of their funding. I know the department certainly has this in scope. We certainly need, I’m sure, a bit more time to finalize where we are. That’s where I thought we were, at that point of continuing to meet with the committee. There’s no question that our department sees this as a great project. Where will it be in the coming months?

We received an update, in fact, this very month. There were some further requirements that we would need. Any time now when we get a build where an investment of this nature occurs, TIR is asking for a particular class of assessment for the build. There were some areas that needed some additional information. That just arrived in the department this month.

KARLA MACFARLANE: I thank the minister for that information. I received an email that indicated that your department was moving things along and sending everything over now to TIR. I’m wondering if you can explain what that process is and why TIR is now responsible.

LEO GLAVINE: All of our projects now that are within a certain dollar scope in TIR - as I sometimes say, after Bluenose II was misplaced and put in CCH, but we won’t go back through all that history. I often say I’m not sure if there’s anybody in the department with one engineering course, let alone a degree.

To make sure that everything is covered - the very, very important assessments for a project - TIR will require a proposal to go before them and they make the determination on: Is there more information that is required? Has the geological work been done in that area, if required? Is there the technical information around if it’s going to be so many storeys high? All of these things now are really scoped out by TIR.

That’s who would give us the final word that this is the project. This amount of money is going to be required for the project. We’ll get a report back from them before CCH would then look at its level of support.

KARLA MACFARLANE: That’s all I have, Madam Chair. I’ll pass it over to my colleague. Thank you so much.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Victoria-The Lakes.

KEITH BAIN: I just have one question, minister. Everybody’s trying to be easy on you today or maybe making things more difficult. We don’t know.

Recently, myself and my two colleagues from Cape Breton met with representatives of the Cape Breton Regional Library. Of course, the main topic of discussion at that time was centred on funding, or the lack of sufficient funding. I guess a bit of the history is that the HRM is presently classified and funded as urban. That results in an increase in funding.

The Cape Breton Regional Library, which is in the second largest city in the province, Sydney - and the surrounding towns of Glace Bay, New Waterford, North Sydney, Sydney Mines - is classified as rural. As a result, their funding is decreased. Granted, the library also serves a large geographical area in Cape Breton, but still the argument could be put forward that the City of Sydney and the surrounding towns isn’t, and shouldn’t be classified, as rural.

I guess my question is quite simple: Would the minister be able to change that formula to recognize the contributions of Sydney and those towns - even if it was changed to a 50-50 rural-urban funding? I’m just wondering if that would be possible.

LEO GLAVINE: As we all know, certain parts of the province were left with real challenges in funding their library operations because the past funding model was based totally on per capita funding. If you take a look at where we currently are, we basically have a Halifax/non-metro determination for funding.

Halifax, for example, receives 26 per cent provincial funding; non-metro receives 71 per cent of provincial funding. The libraries in Cape Breton are receiving 71 per cent of provincial funding, 26 per cent from the municipality, and 3 per cent is raised by the individual library or the library board for that district.

This was really put in place by CORL - the Council of Regional Libraries - and the Library Boards Association of Nova Scotia to move away from strictly per capita to more needs-based. As a result, the funding level for Cape Breton is improved in the new model. When the $2 million-plus is distributed, there will be more for some regions versus others. Plus, there is $500,000 for libraries to apply for, if they have a project that they would like to implement either in a library or in the library system.

I wanted to get exact clarification - it is Halifax that receives 26 per cent of funding and everybody else gets 71 per cent of provincial funding. The increase of provincial contribution to Cape Breton will be $122,000. That was agreed upon by the two library boards. Halifax, for example - who again agreed to the formula - they will pay 71 per cent of all of their operating needs.

[2:00 p.m.]

There isn’t a distinction between Sydney and the rural libraries. We see libraries as metro, meaning Halifax, and all of the others for the province. What happened over a period of time, and the member knows better than I do, that over a 30-year period, Cape Breton lost 20 to 25 per cent of its population. Therefore, on a per capita basis, their funding kept going down every year.

We are now looking at a needs-basis, plus population, and this will give Cape Breton, in fact, $122,000. It’s a 6 per cent increase that will go to Cape Breton.

KEITH BAIN: Am I correct in assuming, though, that there is a different rate for urban and rural? Am I correct in assuming that?

LEO GLAVINE: Unless within the Cape Breton Regional Municipality they have some unique distribution. Our distribution of funding is Halifax at 26 per cent and the rest of the province at 71 per cent of funding. We’ve increased that to Cape Breton by 6 per cent. In some areas, it may be only 3 per cent or four per cent because they haven’t had the same population decline as you experienced in Cape Breton. We make no distinction in the department of CCH with urban and rural areas.

KEITH BAIN: You say that Cape Breton Regional Library’s receiving a 6 per cent increase. I guess my final question will be: Of that 71 per cent, how much of that goes to the Cape Breton Regional Library?

LEO GLAVINE: Cape Breton will get $2,053,100 to run the Cape Breton library system. This is from the province. This is the provincial contribution to run the libraries of Cape Breton. It’s actually an additional $122,000 this year, which is the 6 per cent increase.

Then the municipal share, which is $700,000, comes from the municipality to run the library system. There’s not a distinction made between urban and rural in Cape Breton. They get $2 million from the province to run the system, and this year there’s an additional $122,000.

KEITH BAIN: Sorry, I’m just trying to make everything clear here. That $2,531,000 - there I finally got it. What is the total amount of funding for libraries in the province? I guess I’m looking at percentage-wise as to whether or not there’s a . . .

LEO GLAVINE: The total budget for 2020-21: $16.5 million.

KEITH BAIN: That works out to about 12 or 13 per cent - 12.5 per cent - somewhere around there.

LEO GLAVINE: It’s $2,053,000 of the $16.5 million will go to the libraries of Cape Breton. That’s a 6 per cent increase.

KEITH BAIN: When I look at 12.5 or 13 per cent as compared to double that for HRM - I think you said that metro gets 26 per cent of the funding?

LEO GLAVINE: Yes. Halifax has that unique separation. Of their funding requirements, they will just get the 26 per cent from the province. This is a long-standing arrangement. All of the other eight library systems will get 71 per cent of their funding from the province, 26 per cent from the municipality, and 3 per cent from local fundraising.

KEITH BAIN: During our discussion, in the presentation we received - to be honest, I think that the library boards themselves think there’s a sort of urban and rural formula that’s out there and they were classified under that, but you’re saying there is no formula.

LEO GLAVINE: No. First of all, we moved away from per capita funding to both population and needs-based requirements. The only separation is Halifax - metro - and they get 26 per cent funding. For the rest of the province, no matter where, 71 per cent of the funding operation requirements will come from the province. If there still are some challenge areas, we can certainly review them.

Another area that libraries will capitalize upon, starting this year, is an additional half-million dollars that they can apply to for a particular project that they may put right across their library system or they may just have a project in their central library, for example.

KEITH BAIN: Thank you for that, minister. I guess that $500,000 - as an example, hypothetically, McConnell Library in Sydney was closed numerous times over the Summer because it was just too hot. There’s no air conditioning in the building. If they looked at the possibility of upgrading the air handling unit or air conditioning unit, they could apply under this $500,000?

LEO GLAVINE: There would probably be a better opportunity under the energy innovation stream for any time you’re improving efficiency, heating or cooling of a public building; that would be the place. There’s some really good funding right now in that stream. That would be it.

Our libraries have become community hubs, there’s no question about that. We want other ways in which the library is going to serve as a way of advancing culture, innovation, creativity, the arts world. One of the programs I just recently announced is digital individual tutoring - digital support for the iPhone, the iPad - for seniors.

We’re doing that through the library and that’s the way our library is connecting more and more. Our librarians across the province are telling us that they’ll use this innovation fund for Summer programs for different age groups. Marvelous, marvelous programs that these librarians and community people put on.

I would say that it would be the energy portfolio there for improved air conditioning. Especially with what I see happening in our Summer programming, it would be a shame to see that interrupted.

KEITH BAIN: I thank the minister for the time this afternoon. I’ll turn it over to my colleague from Queens-Shelburne.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Queens-Shelburne.

KIM MASLAND: I’d like to thank the minister and the department for being here this afternoon and acknowledge the great work that you folks are doing. We have wonderful events in Queens-Shelburne. We certainly appreciate you folks recognizing the importance and significance to the community in supporting those events. The Lobster Crawl - exactly.

I have one question. In 2015, it was announced the 18^th century Perkins House Museum in Liverpool - one of the province’s oldest museums - would close due to structural problems. In 2016, the government announced it would repair and reopen the museum, which was absolutely wonderful news. Sadly, the museum did mark the 250^th anniversary that year and the doors were closed.

In 2017, the government announced again that they would make the necessary repairs and renovations and that they would commence in 2017. I know the minister and I have talked about this in the past, but I’m just wondering if the minister could advise if the doors to the Perkins House will open this museum season.

LEO GLAVINE: I’ve been to Perkins House and met the passionate people that want to see this house restored. It is indeed perhaps the oldest house - certainly, one of the very oldest in the province. That being said, the design coming out of the mid-Atlantic States really posed a very unique and challenging work to be carried out. There’s an $856,000 investment and the TCA budget is managed through TIR.

The first thing was recognizing that we needed to continue to invest in Perkins House and its place not just in the community, but in the province. The heritage is certainly significant. There was a fair amount of work on structural security that needed to be done - a lot of that has now been carried out. Secondary supports remain in place, on the advice of the engineering firm.

One of the areas that really held up some of the work was getting - the house being constructed in 1766, numerous structural changes and additions were made over the years. To get the template in place as to how you restore it to its original form of 1766 has certainly been part of the unique construction challenges.

[2:15 p.m.]

Work will continue this Summer, and TIR and our department have been providing Queens County Historical Society with updates. The work continues this Summer. We want it back to its original form with all the security required for public use of Perkins House. We haven’t put a date for its opening. We are just simply committed to having this: a final, wonderful version of the original Perkins House.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Cole Harbour-Eastern Passage.

BARBARA ADAMS: Thank you very much. It’s a pleasure to be back again.

I know that others have asked about the Healthy Communities Stream grant that’s available to help communities recruit a family doctor. I understand during earlier discussion that there were 11 of the 12 grant applicants who were awarded. I’m wondering if the minister could identify for me what 11 got those grants?

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you very much for the question. We’ll get those communities here. Some I certainly am aware of - Amherst and - I know that, having been to a number of these sites, we have Yarmouth and Pictou.

Some are going through the municipalities; some are going through towns. Maybe I should give them to you as they are here: Annapolis Valley Chamber of Commerce, Citizens for a Healthy Pictou, Eastern Memorial Hospital Foundation, Guysborough Memorial Hospital Foundation, the Municipality of the County of Cumberland, the Municipality of the District of Chester, the Now Lunenburg County Society, St. Martha’s Regional Hospital, the Town of Middleton, the Town of Port Hawkesbury, Truro and Colchester Partnership. The number of recipients is 13.

BARBARA ADAMS: So there were 13 approved? How many weren’t approved?

LEO GLAVINE: I know of two that have been brought to my attention. The one certainty that the member can be assured of is that our team at CCH will work directly with the group that is wanting support for the project that they will put forward for recruitment.

Really, it’s a little broader. We’re working on recruitment and retention. We know that has to be part of our thrust and thinking going forward, around our medical personnel, doctors and nurses. So far, there’s been some very, very creative work done by the organizations that are involved.

BARBARA ADAMS: I’m a little puzzled, though, because the actual program guidelines, which I have here, say that the Culture Innovation Fund wants people to “think strategically about how to weave new physicians and their families into the fabric of your community.” It doesn’t say anything about retention here that I can see.

I want to be clear. My understanding of the timeline is on August 14, there was a press release about the new Communities, Culture and Heritage fund. Then I have a successful grant application that mentions February 26^th, Antigonish. Another one for Chester was February 24, 2020. My understanding is that the application deadline was November 1^st for the first round.

I know that my community of Eastern Passage is one of those two that was not approved. I already mentioned yesterday in the Legislature that we are the only constituency without a single family doctor. Yes, my community may have access to outside sources, but we still remain the only constituency without a single family doctor.

When we applied for that grant, the response that was given back to us was we needed to clarify where the funds were going to go. So we clarified the application. We were led to believe that the grant was going to be approved - all we needed was to clarify where the grant money was going to go to.

Then we got a notice that we were not approved. There was no reason given, so the committee wrote back and asked. There was no suggestion that there was a problem with where the money was going. It just stated that there was too much emphasis on marketing how wonderful the community was.

When you read the actual application program guidelines, it says, What is the objective of your proposal? You have two options. One is you want to take more steps to create a more welcoming community. The other is, I plan to capitalize on what my community has to offer. My project expands or enhances an existing promotion or program in my community that is being underutilized or under accessed.

That’s the one that we chose to go with, which says that you’re going to promote your community. When I look at just two applications - Antigonish and Chester - their applications and what they’re promoting are nearly identical to ours. Antigonish’s says: We are going to promote unique experiences available to them in the area, including fossil digging, touring farms, exploring Keppoch Mountain and taking in Theatre Antigonish.

That’s exactly what ours said. Under Chester, it said: This is the second Lunenburg County project to receive funding. They’ve already gotten one; they’re getting another one. Now Lunenburg’s going to get twice as much as we applied for - $20,000 in 2019 - to support a six-episode online video series for doctors considering starting a life and practice. They’re promoting municipalities, museums, libraries and social enterprises.

I’m at a loss as to why my community - I didn’t know there was another one. I was told earlier there was only one that got denied. I’m confused as to why, when we were promoting the identical things, we are one of only two that did not get the grant.

LEO GLAVINE: The department took a second look at the application. There were a few things they needed an explanation for. That was on February 13^th. On February 14^th, CCH staff reached out to discuss and hadn’t heard back, so reached back out again on February 25^th.

BARBARA ADAMS: When the group was asked why they were denied, it said that we were promoting the community, which is pretty much word for word what the application requirements are. Can the minister tell me what those issues were? I can clear them up right now.

LEO GLAVINE: Not having all the details on these applications - I’ve been fortunate to attend several of the meetings when our staff went out and met with the community group. That may be what will be required. We’re certainly more than prepared to do that. Staff has done a wonderful job in meeting with the community groups.

We are starting to learn a few best practices, or better practices, in terms of how they will present their community. I would encourage the member to have her group set up a meeting face to face with our staff. We are working for 100 per cent success with every group.

We had a number of these groups that actually received the grant that did not receive it the first time or automatically because it was a pretty kind of simple presentation - a brochure, let’s say. We know that we have to move into stronger digital presentation for our new medical personnel that we’re going to attract. Plus, also getting them around the community. That experience is really important. This is where the doctor and in many cases a family are going to live. We want to, perhaps, fine tune.

Based on the experience now of dealing with other communities - the program is getting close to being a year old - we want to make sure that we’re giving each of the communities that we support a good opportunity for success.

BARBARA ADAMS: I just want to point out, because it’s important to know that Monique Mullin-Roberts, who is a member of the Southeastern Community Health Board, is one of the people who worked together on the grant application. She happens to have, just a few nights ago, given out a number of grants to community members. She’s well aware of how to write grant applications. I will absolutely call her right after this and let her know to set up a meeting because we have another meeting coming up very soon. We have big plans in place for that money to get us a doctor, if we can be successful.

I had one other question that I’ll end with. The announcement of the fund was made on August 14, 2019, and yet June 25, 2019, Yarmouth was given $75,000 for the same grant. How did they get the grant money before the grant application process was even announced?

LEO GLAVINE: First of all, they didn’t receive $75,000. They received $25,000 and the municipality and the Chamber came forward with monies to work on, I would say, a recruitment officer for the area, having just simply a very challenging time replacing some specialists - especially anesthesiology - in their area, as well as a pediatrician. We supported them, actually, through the Culture Innovation Fund and not this designated $200,000 that we put in place later, realizing that there was a growing need for local communities to be a part of recruitment.

We had some very successful trips to the U.K., as the member may know. One of the areas that was missing when potential doctors were asked what else they would like to have before a site visit - it was actually some knowledge, footage, a presentation of the two or three communities that they were going to look at. It came about pretty organically that doctors were reaching out for more about the very nature of where they may immigrate to and where they would be bringing their families.

One of the areas where our recruitment was not as strong, perhaps, was around the fact of realizing that doctors and nurses are going to live in these communities, so what is the school system like? What is there available for recreation? What are the amenities of the entire region of where the doctor may live? This is one of the great advantages that the Eastern Shore has. Again, its closeness to a very rich arts and creative sector in HRM, which is not too distant away.

[2:30 p.m.]

BARBARA ADAMS: I’m looking at your press release from June 25^th and I’ll read it. It says, “The Yarmouth and Area Chamber of Commerce is receiving $75,000 over three years . . .” Yes, it’s $25,000 a year, but it is $75,000 in total.

The last part says, “As a physician leader in Yarmouth, this is a fantastic opportunity for our community to take an active role in showcasing everything this area has to offer to a physician and their families.”

That was Dr. Brian Moses, medical site lead at the Yarmouth Regional Hospital. He’s implying that this grant is to help showcase everything the area had to offer which is exactly what our grant application had.

I look forward to having a meeting with the department. I thank you very much.

THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley.

LARRY HARRISON: Thank you very much. You missed me, did you? (Laughter) We were on transit when I left before. There’s just something here I’m just curious about.

There was an announcement of $300,000 going for a bus shelter in Cape Breton Island. What would that be about?

LEO GLAVINE: You almost have to go to Cape Breton University. Actually, on the day I made the announcement, one of my wife’s friends sent her an email and wondered how could a shelter cost $300,000, figuring what most people see by the side of the road for a shelter. If you go to Cape Breton University, they don’t even have big foyers and areas for people to congregate. They really are in huge numbers outside the university to catch, especially scheduled, buses.

Also, there needed to be some realignment. Bus safety must have a lane that’s only used and designated for buses, but a big part of it is in this shelter. Several hundred could be waiting at one time and there would not be room inside the hallways suitable, and again fire regulations, for them to be crowding inside a door. I think we all have a little bit of an idea of Cape Breton winters and what they could be like. It’s really to assist in the construction of a bus shelter on campus that would be suitable for a large number of people. I guess it’s like a central depot like you may have in Dartmouth, where a lot of people could congregate at one time.

If the member would like for me to very quickly go through support for HRM, I’m more than prepared to do that. Right off the top, there’s $2 million for HRM Halifax Transit through the Public Transit Assistance Program, so $2 million right off; $200,000 for Community Transportation Assistance Program, that could be probably for scoping out new routes and supporting that way; $48,000 for an accessible vehicle for Bayrides; $83,000 to MusGo Rider Cooperative Ltd. for a business plan for a fixed route; $12,000 to Bay Roads business plan; $18,000 for the Spryfield Business Commission for a business case for a fixed route service. We’re in the $2,286,300 at metro. So HRM, and again we’re talking about a big geography, I’d say they’re getting a fairly significant dollar in support.

THE CHAIR: Mr. Harrison, you have one minute.

LARRY HARRISON: I know. I’m not going to go into anything else. I do want to thank you for the time and answering the questions. Your department obviously does a lot of good work. I hope it continues to get this province closer together in many ways. Thank you very much to you and your staff.

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you, Mr. Harrison, it’s always a pleasure to work with you. Don’t hesitate to count on our staff at any time if you have issues that relate to CCH.

THE CHAIR: We will take a one-minute break. Thank you.

[2:35 p.m. The committee recessed.]

[2:41 p.m. The committee reconvened.]

THE CHAIR: Good afternoon. We are resuming our meeting with the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage. We have 23 minutes left for the NDP starting now at 2:41 p.m.

The honourable member for Halifax Needham.

LISA ROBERTS: I’m asking questions on behalf of my colleague, Susan Leblanc, but I’m glad to do so.

The department has said that it is working with the Department of Justice to address systemic racism in the justice system. I was wondering if you could share where in the budget that work is accounted for and provide an update on that work?

LEO GLAVINE: Of course, there’re a number of areas that we are involved with and have been now for a couple of years in continuing programs. We’re committed to addressing the systemic racism and discrimination that still exists in our communities. We recently launched Count Us In: Nova Scotia’s Action Plan in Response to the International Decade for People of African Descent - which is running from 2015 to 2024 - to correct long-standing issues.

I personally believe the work that we’re doing on land titles, and we have again committed monies for the next two years so that many of those long outstanding areas of clear title in particular Lincolnville, Sunnyville, East Preston, Lake Loon, Cherry Brook, North Preston, that work remains ongoing. Some of it is very complex and it’s taken, again, the expertise of surveyors, historical work, and legal aid. There’s been a number of partners that have had to contribute to that work.

We’re thinking there’ll be in the vicinity of around - I think maybe it’s 300 properties that have been ongoing currently, but there may be as many as 800 that will need to be investigated over the next few years. What a wonderful day when these people can say, “This is my land.” They have not been able to make that kind of very simple statement, that they own the land that they have been residing on. Many are third, fourth, or fifth generation in those areas.

[2:45 p.m.]

Plus, while the work has been finished on the Restorative Inquiry for the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, the directions that have been provided for restorative justice future pathways remain very much part of our work. A lot of the work, as the member may know, would come under the Office of African Nova Scotian Affairs. In 2019-20, the budget was $1,670,000 for the Home for Colored Children which now has been concluded. I wanted to say how much the recommendations from that report will continue, I believe, to impact right across a whole number of our departments for years to come.

Action items under DPAD would be accounted for in all department budgets involved. There’s a new director position at ANSA and part of his work would focus specifically on indicators and reporting, again, dealing with systemic racism. The new director position at ANSA is responsible for some of that continuing work on systemic racism.

LISA ROBERTS: I feel like you just referenced a number of different projects and pieces of work. I have a question here in front of me that’s kind of in reference to my initial question which was around work with the Department of Justice to address systemic racism in the justice system.

I have the question here: Does this represent an increase or a decrease in funding? I don’t know if you can address that in relation to the restorative inquiry maybe would be the most relevant piece, where obviously the work of the Inquiry has finished but is there an increase or a decrease in funding as the, sort of, actions from the inquiry flow out.
 

LEO GLAVINE: That’s a wonderful question being asked because we want great and lasting value from the inquiry. It was seen as a very new and different way to approach not just the past but how we would address systemic racism. Now the Department of Justice is formulating a framework or a strategy that will go across all departments so that systemic racism is addressed in an action-oriented way. That comes right out of the final report on the Restorative Inquiry for the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children.

There isn’t a budget dollar this year in CCH. We will get the direction from the Department of Justice. Having been involved with three or four sessions over the past two years as Minister of CCH, it embraced Health and Wellness, Community Services, the Minister of Justice, and probably seven or eight different departments. Now we will take back from the lead of the Department of Justice some very specific and concrete actions that will go forward. It needed to be headed up by one department and we’ve put that in the hands of the Department of Justice.

LISA ROBERTS: Thanks very much for those answers. I’d like to ask about funding under the ACCESS-Ability and Community Transportation programs. How much of the budget here is for operational funding and how much is one-time funding?

LEO GLAVINE: There are two streams now for accessibility. One has been very much part of our department for at least a short while. There’s a million dollars in one-time accessibility and access; that’s primarily for the built environment. That’s Community ACCESS-Ability Grant Program and that would be community halls, libraries, community parks, community culture and heritage, non-profit shelters, sport and recreation, and legions; they’re involved in the community accessibility. That’s a million-dollar program. We started last year with the Business ACCESS-Ability. That’s a million dollars on the built environment, accessible communication services, assistive devices, accessibly transportation. Those are areas that make up the $2 million that will be one-time funding.

The big area of accessibility relating to Community Transportation that will be ongoing, new buses are being purchased that are accessible. I’ve been in several communities to announce the opening operation of those buses. We know that they have a life cycle so there’ll be some continuous support for accessibility and community transportation.

LISA ROBERTS: If I look from 2019 to 2020, there’s a $2 million increase in the budget line for ACCESS-Ability in Community Transportation. That sounds like it could be approximately those two ACCESS $1 million funds.

I guess I didn’t get a totally clear breakdown of operational versus one-time fund for the Community Transportation programs which we know are across the province. I wonder if you could comment if there are any concerns, or if concerns have been expressed to you by the people actually working in community transportation around sustainability of those services.

LEO GLAVINE: I’ll start off by mentioning that there’s also an Accessibility Directorate that’s based in the Department of Justice. You may be, of course, aware of that. That directorate will provide information on whether to expand or fine-tune some of our two major programs, the Community ACCESS-Ability and Business ACCESS-Ability which is now coming under accessibility program of $2 million. There wasn’t a reduction in sport and rec department - it was actually a million dollars that was embedded there.

The other stream is Community Transportation which is $7,163,000. That’ll go into Public Transit Assistance Program, community transportation assistance and strategic community transportation investment, accessible transportation, and there’s a breakdown of each of those areas. If you would like some further information on that, but we’re now at the $7,163,000 for Community Transportation.

What is really interesting to see is that while we’ve had a number of our transportation companies like Le Transport de Clare, Trans County Transportation Society, CHAD Transit in Pictou have always made sure they had at least a few vehicles for accessibility. We’re now seeing this grow across the province. This is where a considerable amount of our transportation dollar is going to perhaps get the first bus.

I was in Bridgewater. For example, they purchased a bus for their community route that would, again, be just for accessibility.

LISA ROBERTS: Can you tell me where in the budget the North American Indigenous Games is accounted for, and what the support is?

LEO GLAVINE: Thank you very much for that question. We know that the province, the federal government, and the private sector will all be part of the funding this magnificent event happening July 12 to 18, 2020.

One of the immediate investments came from the provincial government of about $2 million. That really, in my view, having our government support through the very early bid process, right off the top it relayed to the committee that, you know, being up against Ottawa and Victoria, that we really wanted to secure the Games. The total amount of money, $3.5 million: in 2018-19 had $1.5 million; 2019-20 had $1.5 million; there’s $500,000 for 2020-21. This matches the federal investment.

We’re talking about the biggest games ever held in Nova Scotia. We have 5,250 athletes plus coaches, and because they’re a young group, 13 to 19 parents, roughly, will come. There are 750 nations represented; and there’s the development of a cultural village on the Halifax Common. Just housing the athletes at Saint Mary’s University, Dalhousie, and Mount Saint Vincent through the Summer period will obviously be a considerable dollar amount required.

The excitement is growing with these games. The NAIG 2020 Host Society is made up of 28 staff led by John Rogers as CEO, Tex Marshall is the president and both report to a board of directors. It’s a pretty significant undertaking. The NAIG Host Society are out to raise $1.5 million to make sure that the Games get all of the financial support that will be required.

THE CHAIR: Ms. Roberts, you have five minutes and we’re not finishing today, so there’ll be no time for resolutions. You have the full five minutes.

Ms. Roberts.

LISA ROBERTS: I’ll take the whole five minutes. You may have heard in the Legislature that Dartmouth’s lakes are at risk. Last Summer was another Summer where the lakes were plagued with toxic algae blooms and clogged with invasive weeds. Obviously, the situation has potentially very serious impacts for recreational activities that take place on Lake Banook, including major international events. What work is your department doing to address this issue?

LEO GLAVINE: The member raises a very good point because this could become the new normal, if you wish. We’re embarking in 2022 on the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. I would have to gather in from the Department of Environment and HRM as to how they’re looking at managing this issue if it becomes a chronic annual issue.

It’s a great point that has been raised. I haven’t had an update recently. It was brought to my attention last Summer when this occurred, because I don’t view the lake as just a place for world championships. This is a place for daily recreation, practice by our athletes, so it is a concern, for sure.

[3:00 p.m.]

LISA ROBERTS: Just to be clear, are there dollar values attached in this budget related to any work under your department on the Dartmouth lakes?

LEO GLAVINE: At this point, our department hasn’t had an ask, for one thing. I believe it’s going to be the Department of Environment that would most likely be involved with the city, as to the nature of this problem if it continues to be of a Summer concern going forward.

LISA ROBERTS: Thank you. Let’s see if your answer and my question can both fit. Free admission for galleries and museums is a practice that is used in many parts of the world. Is your department considering free admission? Have you calculated what this would cost?

LEO GLAVINE: I always speak of or think about great things that children, especially, can experience and if a fee stands in the way. It’s actually something our department is looking at; we don’t have plan for, a draft for consideration and discussion at this point but certainly one that our department has under consideration.

THE CHAIR: Ms. Roberts. Two minutes.

LISA ROBERTS: That’s too big. (Laughter) Well, it is too big, but I’ll ask it anyhow: What analysis does your department do on the climate change and or greenhouse gas emissions impact of your programs and policies?

LEO GLAVINE: Any big topics, you’re welcome to come back on Monday and we’ll do our best to address them at that time.

It’s interesting with the amount of infrastructure when we look at the number of buildings and locations where some of our museums are located, sports fields, sports facilities. We’ve embarked on a project to look at exactly this with the Nova Scotia Department of Environment. We have built this, for example, into the design for the new art gallery. Whatever company gets the project, they must account for the obvious potential of sea level rising.

More and more, for example, our department are called upon if it’s a heritage cemetery.

THE CHAIR: Order. The time has lapsed on Subcommittee on Supply for today. We have completed our four hours. The NDP will start on Monday, and you will have 37 minutes on Monday. Thank you everyone.

[The committee adjourned at 3:04 p.m.]