Official Languages Committee on May 6th, 2008

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Thank you. I want to ask Mr. Godin a question.

Why would we ask the Commissioner of Official Languages to appear before our committee with regard to the Olympic Games? He has publicly said that he had concerns about this issue. We know therefore that he has concerns, as do we. That is why we are inviting both ministers. I don't understand why we would ask the commissioner to come back and repeat all that and why we would share our own concerns with him when these facts have already been established.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, the commissioner is an officer of Parliament. So, if he has concerns, I want to hear them. Perhaps you are already satisfied, Mr. Lemieux, but, personally, I want to know what the commissioner thinks, whether he is conducting a study, preparing things in advance and making recommendations. We can ask the commissioner all kinds of questions. I cannot tell you which questions to ask him, but there are some that I would like to ask and that other members of the committee would also like to ask, I think. I don't want to see a repeat of what happened with the Canada Winter Games in Bathurst-Campbellton. We have the opportunity to get a head start. It is about being prepared.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Everyone who wanted to speak on the motion has done so.

Mr. Petit.

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I want to ask Mr. Godin a question.

If we hear from these two or three individuals, how do you see our work unfolding? I would first like to hear from Mr. Fraser and then from the ministers, and not the opposite. Based on my understanding, that is what your motion states. You want to know what is happening, so you first want to talk to Mr. Fraser, correct?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Absolutely not, Mr. Chair. We can start with any of the witnesses, it does not matter. Be it Mr. Fraser or the ministers, does not change much. We are not inviting them to criticize each other. That is not the point. We want to know what is happening and what should be done. That is all.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you, Mr. Petit.

If there are no other comments, we will move on to the...

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

If Mr. Fraser is available next Tuesday and the minister is available next Thursday, we are not going to start fighting to find out who is going to appear first. It is not a race.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

In any case, people are always eager to appear before our committee.

We will put the question. Who is in favour of Mr. Godin's motion to call the Minister of Canadian Heritage, the Commissioner of Official Languages and the minister responsible for the Olympic Games?

(Motion agreed to)

Thank you.

We will now move on to Mr. Godin's second motion.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

There is a francophone community radio station in Victoria. The CRTC has granted a licence to Salt Spring Island Radio Corp., which is an anglophone station. The francophone radio station in Victoria has complained that the anglophone station has a very strong frequency, which is causing interference. And the francophone station is asking the CRTC to change its frequency to avoid this interference, but it seems that the CRTC has watched its hands of the matter.

I want the CRTC to come and explain to us why it has not responded to the station. I think that this is unfortunate, because it could simply change the frequency.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

I would like a clarification. Let's say that the francophone community radio station is at 103.9 frequency. Is the anglophone radio station also at 103.9?

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

No, I do not think so, but it is close, say 103.7. I am not an expert. That is why I want to invite the CRTC here. Once we have heard from the CRTC, perhaps we can invite the community radio station to come and explain the problem to us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

We will now go to questions and comments on the motion.

Mr. Chong.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Thank you.

I don't have a problem with calling the CRTC in front of the committee to discuss interference between the two stations, but I do have a problem with the wording of this. It seems to be blaming one station versus the other. But we're not the technical experts. We have no idea what is causing the interference. It could be that the French language station has boosted its transmission capacity beyond what it's authorized to do. It could be because somebody has put a transmitter in the wrong spot. I mean, who knows what the reason is?

I'm proposing that we reword this slightly so that we're not trying to pin the blame on one station or the other when we don't know what the reason is. However we can word it, I think that's something that would be better. Right now we're assuming that the English language station is causing the interference. We don't know that. You and I are not the technical experts on this.

So I propose that we word it in such a way that it's more neutral--for instance, we call the CRTC in front of the committee to review their decision because of--

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Interference between the two stations.

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Yes. The two radio stations are interfering with each other, something like that.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

I have no problem with that. I was not trying to--

[Michael Chong, Conservative, Wellington—Halton Hills, ON]

Otherwise these things have a way of morphing into something much bigger--i.e., if we're trying to pin it on one or the other without having all the facts--as we well know on this committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

I understand that the motion is to be amended to talk about interference between the two stations.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chair, for the record, I am not trying to blame anyone. The francophone community has complained about interference with its station. I have not received a complaint from the anglophone station. We want to know where the transmitter is. Why is the CRTC not getting involved and finding a solution?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Are you in agreement?

The motion talks about calling the CRTC to appear in order to clarify the interference problems between the two stations.

There are other comments.

Mr. Rodriguez.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

We could make this change and put the motion on hold. Mr. Chair, you yourself said so, the Canadian Coast Guard and the CBC are supposed to come before this committee. Furthermore, we are talking about the Olympic Games and major issues. There will be very few meetings over the coming weeks. This is an important issue, but there could be a preliminary stage of writing a letter on behalf the committee to request an explanation. If that explanation is not satisfactory or we see that no solution has been implemented, we can then officially move the motion and invite the CRTC.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

So, you propose writing a letter to the CRTC.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I propose that you write a letter on behalf of the committee.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

To enlighten us on the situation.