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Results: 361 - 375 of 413
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Thank you for that question, Mr. Louis.
The government has undertaken a number of things in the last mandate that we intend to pursue.
The first thing I should talk about is the historic investment in the arts and culture sector. If they're not the most important, proportionally, of all the G7 countries, then those investments in the last mandate were amongst the highest in the sector on a per capita basis. The Canada Council for the Arts and a historic investment in the CBC....
We've launched a number of initiatives or provided increased funding to organizations in the arts and culture sector, and more specifically for music. I think about the additional $20 million over two years that was provided to the Canada music fund.
Some of the elements that we have started doing around our cultural export strategy include the Frankfurt book show that will happen next fall. It's interesting to note that every year Frankfurt invites a country to be the host of the book show in Frankfurt. I was talking to someone, I believe from New Zealand—I think it was the last country to host that book show in Frankfurt—who told me that tourism went up 15% to 17% in New Zealand after they did that. The person I was talking to was clearly making a link between those.
Culture is obviously about more than money, but it's also about that. There's an intrinsic value to our arts and culture, but there is also a very important economic element for our country for getting our shows, music and books exported. We want people to discover them here, obviously. As you were pointing out in your question, in a world that is getting more and more global, it's also important to get our stories seen abroad, should they be in music, theatre or TV.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Yes, absolutely.
One of the reasons we have committed to doing this review of the CRTC and to changing some of our laws is so we can continue telling our stories to ourselves and also be able to tell them to others. I, like many of you probably, have a subscription to Netflix, as I have to Ici Tou.tv, which is the Radio-Canada equivalent to Gem for CBC. I'm always amazed that we can have access to Norwegian or South Korean TV series, but I think some of our series are very popular. Kim's Kitchen is one of the most popular TV series in South Korea now. It's a CBC production. To give a French Canadian example, a Quebec artist, a comedian, just sold a series to Netflix, which aired on Radio-Canada, Les pêcheurs, which my kids love. I think it's the first TV series from Canada that has been bought by Netflix. There's a huge potential to get.... We've had 50 co-production agreements in the last little while. It's about getting our stories out there, but also it's about making people here work and benefit from all this work.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
You are actually bringing up a number of issues. For example, in the last five years, there has been a significant increase in revenue from the sale of online music, particularly in Quebec. The issue, of course, is that the artists, those who make that music, should be entitled to their fair share of that cake and that there should not be a whole lot of intermediaries between the artists and the Spotifys of the world, for example, who are nicely lining their pockets.
Online music sales are really increasing. So a part of the system is working, but another part is not working. That is one of the things that we want to review as we make this change.
As I said to Mr. Boulerice just now, it is my firm intention to introduce a bill by June and, ideally, well before that so that it can be passed before the end of the year.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
You could invite me back.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
The Government of Quebec is responsible for Télé-Québec, if I am not mistaken.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
It is still a very good question. You have been able to see that, in my mandate letter, I have been asked to see how Radio-Canada could contribute more significantly to regional media coverage. You probably heard, as I did, the president of CBC/Radio-Canada, Ms. Tait, say that, in her opinion, the future of journalism is local journalism. Radio-Canada has already begun that process. The idea is not to impose our views on Radio-Canada, but to work in collaboration with the broadcaster to see how that objective can be achieved.
Let me tell you about the pilot project that Radio-Canada and the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper are doing in collaboration. In that pilot project, which is a first for Radio-Canada, stories coming from the Winnipeg Free Press are published on Radio-Canada’s website, but only in part. If people want to see the story in full, they have to go to the Winnipeg Free Press site.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
You are right. In our election platform, we made a commitment to Téléfilm. The NFB’s budget was increased, but that happened several years ago. Part of the increase was taken up by the move.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
I have met with people from the NFB, and with officials from its union. We are very aware of the situation and, at the moment, I am working very hard for the NFB. Let’s see what that produces in the near future.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
Ms. Laurendeau would like to add something.
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Lib. (QC)
As I am an author myself, the copyright issue affects me specifically and it is a subject that I know a lot about. If I recall correctly, the problem was identified in one of your committee’s recommendations in the 42nd Parliament. You understand that I only have one hand on the steering wheel; the other hand belongs to my colleague Mr. Bains. It is a matter on which we have to work together, and we will do so.
Steven Guilbeault
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Steven Guilbeault
2011-02-10 15:35
Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
Members of the committee, thank you for inviting me to appear today to discuss such important issues as energy security and the oil sands.
In French, we are not engaged in the same discussion that you seem to be having with respect to the name of the oil sands. In French, the term is “sables bitumineux” and it's the same for everyone and everyone seems quite willing to accept it.
For us at Équiterre, issues such as energy security and the oil sands are both crucial for the energy, economic, environmental and social future of the country. We have prepared a report which suggests how Quebec could eliminate its dependency on oil by 2030. We sent you copies of that report, but only in French. We will be forwarding an English version which can then be distributed.
In light of the scientific data that we have received over the last decade with respect to climate change, and various reports, be they from NASA, Environment Canada or the Department of Natural Resources, or places around the planet, it is clear that in the coming decades, we will pretty well have to stop using fossil fuels.
It is clear that the starting point is fossil fuels, which have the highest rate of greenhouse gas emissions, in terms of either units of energy or units of GDP—whichever. As we were reminded again the day before yesterday, by a report tabled in the European Parliament by the European Commission, the oil sands have a GHE content which is 25 times higher than traditional oil fuels.
As we see it, that means one of two things: either we have to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the oil sands—which, I remind you, emit two to four times more greenhouse gases than traditional fuels—or, if we are unable to do that, reduce our use, and therefore our production of oil from the oil sands.
In the report that we will be tabling with the committee, we show that we are well aware that humans will continue to use oil for quite some time to come. However, we believe that it is necessary, on the one hand, to reduce our dependency on oil, and also to move away from fossil fuels, conventional or otherwise, as quickly as possible, since they emit high levels of greenhouse gases. In that regard, the oil sands are clearly in a category by themselves.
In the report we will be forwarding to you, we have information from a study we conducted of the economic cost of this for a province like Quebec. And, what we did for Quebec can be done for other provinces. Indeed, it would be a good idea for the committee to look at that.
The economic cost of our dependency on oil is $74 a barrel of oil. The exodus of capital from a province like Quebec amounts to approximately $10 billion a year. If a barrel of oil costs $105, the loss of capital amounts to almost $15 billion. If a barrel costs $150—as was the case in 2007—the loss of capital outside Quebec is almost $20 billion. In budgetary terms, that corresponds to the second largest budget item for the Government of Quebec, which is the Ministry of Education.
Yet we believe there are many other things we can do with our money—public money—than use it to boost other world economies. We think we should be boosting our own economy instead.
You may say that it is impossible to reduce our dependency on oil—that it's unthinkable. And yet some countries have made a commitment not to import any more oil between now and 2025. Those countries, such as Sweden, are comparable to ours in terms of their climate, their economy, their social programs and education systems. But 2025 is coming quickly. If Sweden is able to do it, I don't see why a country like Canada could not do the same if, of course, it has the political will to do so.
I am one of those who believes that there is no lack of solutions, either technical or technological. We have enough creativity and intelligence to be able to deal with the issues.
In Sweden, they are now building houses that don't need a heating system. They still put heating systems in these houses, simply for psychological reasons, because the people who live there do not believe it is possible to live in Sweden in a house without heating. However, these houses are so energy efficient that the only heat that is produced is the heat loss from the people who live in them.
There are a great many things that we should be doing in Canada—for example, in terms of electrifying our transportation system, particularly transportation over long distances, both passenger transportation and shipping. That would allow us to greatly reduce our consumption of oil in this country.
You may ask whether we will gain something if the electricity used to power these transportation systems is produced using fossil fuels. But there will clearly be very significant gains if one considers the fact that the rate of efficiency of an electrical device in converting energy—in this case, moving electricity—is between 75% and 95%. In comparison, an internal combustion engine has an efficiency rate of between 20% and 25%. For every vehicle that is electrified, the energy efficiency would triple, which would represent a very significant gain.
There are many different things that should be done with respect to energy efficiency. Alas, Stephen Harper's government has abolished pretty well all the energy efficiency programs that were in place, particularly those aimed at low-income Canadians. Équiterre is an organization which, like many others across the country, has for years now provided energy efficiency services to low-income households, to help them reduce their energy bill.
However, the Harper government cut $500 million from energy efficiency programs for low-income households. Hundreds of jobs were lost across the country. In that sector, jobs were being created all across Canada, in small and large municipalities alike, from north to south, and from east to west. It was not only one part of the country which was benefiting from that.
We must focus on renewable energy. Wind energy is an obvious example. On behalf of the Quebec Minister of Natural Resources, I was in charge of a special team on renewable energy. The mandate of our team was to look at the development of emerging renewable energy sources, such as photovoltaic solar, thermal solar, biogas and second-generation biofuels.
In closing, there is huge potential for Quebec, Ontario and the country as a whole. Unfortunately, we are one of the only OECD countries to no longer have an incentive program for renewable energy development.
Thank you very much.
Steven Guilbeault
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Steven Guilbeault
2011-02-10 16:05
Are you wondering whether this is something that can be done more efficiently?
Steven Guilbeault
View Steven Guilbeault Profile
Steven Guilbeault
2011-02-10 16:05
We are increasingly moving in the direction of reduced greenhouse gas emissions. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Expert Panel on Climate Change—which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007, as you may recall—all the large emitters of greenhouse gas emissions around the world, including China, India, Canada, the United States and Europe, will have to cap their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 and then reduce them.
Earlier, I was saying that, as regards the oil sands—which are responsible for a much larger number of greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuels—there are two choices: either we quickly establish emission caps and impose significant reductions to at least bring them down to the level of conventional fuels, or we stop increasing production because we have no idea what to do at this point in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. They are one of the most significant sources of increased greenhouse gas emissions in Canada and have been since 1990. The sky is the limit. This cannot continue.
Results: 361 - 375 of 413 | Page: 25 of 28

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