“I think it’s a shame that they are doing that. I don’t know where the consultation was done. I was never asked as an MP about if direct savings have to be done, where it will come from,” said Liberal MP Scott Simms (Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, Nfld.), his party’s heritage critic. “What’s sad about the over-arching theme of the cuts is lack of consultation.”
As a result of budget pressures from the strategic and operating review to find five to 10 per cent savings, the Library of Parliament cut its tours of East Block and Parliamentary tours in the evening, which eliminated 12 tour guide jobs for young Canadians.
Cynthia Cusinato, Library of Parliament spokesperson, said the Library needed to find $3.7-million of savings over three years and the tours were not considered a core service.
“As part of our strategic and operating review we have to reduce our budget by 2.5 per cent and we have to absorb close to seven per cent of projected economic increases and other pressures,” Ms. Cusinato said, noting that more than just the tours and guides have been reduced.
“If we look at the criteria or priorities that we put in place of what we would preserve, they were the resources and activities that were most critical and beneficial to Parliamentarians and the public. So those are core services,” she said.
The evening tours, at 7:40 p.m., fell outside of that ‘core service’ definition, and there was less demand for them, Ms. Cusinato said. “What we’re doing is preserving the core times in which people visit Parliament Hill. So we’re committed to supporting tours during times in which people choose to visit,” she said. The last tour now takes place at 4:40 p.m.
Ms. Cusinato explained that guided tours are not the only way for Canadians to see the Hill.
“A guided tour is only one way to access the building, which is a little known fact and one we’d love to promote. During Question Period all visitors are welcome to access democracy in action. You don’t need a guided tour to visit the galleries at all. The Peace Tower and Memorial chamber are also self-guided. Parliamentarians have the ability to call us at any time and book tours on behalf of their constituents so there are lots of options for Canadians to visit,” she said.
But Mr. Simms said that a self-guided tour does not do justice to the idea of open democracy.
“You can’t have a self-guided tour through Parliament, it just doesn’t work. Even I’m not qualified to do it,” he said. “Parliament is free and that’s the whole point, you can get in for free, taxpayers produce a functioning Parliament and as a functioning Parliament I think a Canadian citizen should have access to it. By access I mean assistance and access, information and trying to find out [about Parliament], and interpretation.”
Each year approximately 355,000 people take tours with 43 guides, leading some to suggest that charging for tours might be the solution, rather than eliminating them.
“I think that suggestion has been considered on different occasions but I think that the priority has been to make Canada’s Parliament as accessible as possible. Moving forward what we’re proposing is that we do a strategic review of all visitor services to determine how we can better continue to over access and meet the needs of visitors. We’re looking to do that in August,” Ms. Cusinato said.
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: JAMES GRIGG
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