NDP’s Nantel digging for CanCon consult details

The department of Canadian Heritage will have to disclose who sat down with Minister Mélanie Joly as she fleshed out the consultation plan for her Canadian content review, following a query by NDP MP Pierre Nantel. “I just want to make sure that these consultations are going to be fruitful because there’s no coming back,” Nantel, co-chair of the House’s Canadian Heritage committee and his party’s heritage critic, said in a phone interview. In the question placed on the order paper Friday, Nantel asked for a variety of details about whom Joly and her staff met as of Jan. 1 and whether they are registered lobbyists, as well as for information about the use of consulting firm Ipsos Public Affairs. The government has 45 sitting days to respond. Nantel said he has had mounting concerns about the sweeping review, which will cover most of the country’s cultural institutions. The public consultation phase began earlier this month. “I think Mélanie Joly, up to now, has officially addressed the issues and asked the right questions, I’ve always felt that she was asking the proper questions. But since then it got confused a bit,” Nantel said. According to the MP—who represents a riding just outside of Montreal, and had a career in Quebec’s music industry prior to entering politics—the worrying shift began around the time an expert advisory panel was announced for the review. The panel’s membership was met with mixed reaction, as some didn’t think it included a proper diversity of voices. Nantel also criticized the pre-consultation questionnaire, calling it “bizarrely focused. So you say ‘who have you asked advice of in order to ask the proper questions and to open (like she says) everything on the table?’ Then you wonder who has been asked,” Nantel said. He added: “I understand that Mélanie Joly seems to get it, but I’m very worried. And I’m scratching my head here because I think there is no place for any mistake in this environment where we are now. Everyone should sit at the table.” Exactly who was at the table wasn’t broadcast by the heritage department as it hosted its first in-person consultation with the minister in Vancouver on Monday. Nantel said he was surprised not to see more information or a livestream of the event available online. In an email, department spokeswoman Geneviève Dubois-Richard said there were 39 participants at the Vancouver consultation. “Participants were selected based on proximity to events and the necessity to solicit input from a wide range of perspectives including members of the public, Canadian creators, non-governmental organizations, academics, industries, cultural organizations and cultural entrepreneurs,” Dubois-Richard said. “In addition to these in-person events, all Canadians are invited to join the conversation and take part in the discussions at any time through the Web portal and social media using the hashtag #DigiCanCon.” According to posts using the consultation’s hashtag on Twitter Inc.’s social media service, participants at Monday’s event included musicians such as Dan Mangan, actors such as Jackson Davies, and representatives of the Directors Guild of Canada, National Film Board, Telus Corp.’s Storyhive, and the newspaper industry. In addition to five more in-person events with Joly around the country, there will be three consultations held on Facebook Inc.’s Live platform on Oct. 12, 28 and Nov. 7. “I’m not saying I have all the answers but what I am saying is that this whole system’s closely knit and everybody should speak. I want to make sure that it’s happening and that’s why I’m so cranked up about the fact that we do not know what is happening in Vancouver,” Nantel said, adding that “Heritage is not only Kate and William.” Joly has been in B.C. since the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrived for their tour on Saturday, and was on hand in Whitehorse on Tuesday when the royal couple arrived for the Yukon leg of their trip. In a video posted to her Instagram account, Joly noted her time in Vancouver included the CanCon consultation, meeting musicians from the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and meeting indigenous language expert Tracey Herbert. — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

NDP’s Nantel digging for CanCon consult details

News | September 28, 2016

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NDP’s Nantel digging for CanCon consult details

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