Official Languages Committee on March 21st, 2016

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

You have your own translators.

[Catherine Cano]

We translate 500 to 600 pieces of information a month. It is a lot.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

If I am not mistaken, we are talking more about interpreters than translators.

[Catherine Cano]

We have both. We use interpreters for live broadcasts. We also translate documents, such as website content or promotional materials.

I will give you an example. When the budget is presented, everything is in French and English. Tomorrow, for example, all our content for the budget will be in French and English. If the source language of the document is English, it will be translated into French, and if the source language is French, the document will be translated into English.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

All right.

As you mentioned, you have your own translation service. Is this service in contact with the Translation Bureau of Public Works and Government Services Canada or with a university in order to continue to improve?

[Catherine Cano]

That is a good question. I cannot say whether they are in regular contact. However, what I can say is that it is important to us that our translators are aware of new developments in translation because there are always new words and new interpretations. We make sure that they keep current about that. I do not know to what extent they are in regular contact with PWGSC's Translation Bureau or other government organizations.

CPAC is a private broadcaster, but we keep abreast of developments in the field of translation in Canada.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

That is excellent.

You spoke about broadcasting, but there is a lot of traffic on your website as well. I often consult it. It is a very good platform on the Web and it is probably provided free of charge.

How important will this platform be in the future? Mr. Lefebvre mentioned earlier the importance of everything digital. How do you view this transition?

[Catherine Cano]

The Internet and the website are advantageous for us because they do not have the same constraints as television. We can exceed the 20% or 25% and do much more. Obviously, we need the resources to do that. What we hope to do is see how we can increase our offerings in both French and English.

We are currently studying how we can do that and we are establishing our priorities. We are conducting small surveys to identify what people want. One thing I will be doing is meeting with all MPs to determine their consumption habits, what is relevant, what is not as relevant, and what should be given priority on our website. There is a vast amount of potential content. Our website is rich in content, and we have to see what is most pertinent.

On the French side, I will come back to your question, Mr. Lefebvre, and talk about our program Revue politique. This program deals with the issues of interest to parliamentarians and their work, and also covers a lot of the work being done by francophone organizations outside Canada and the bills or public policies often put in place by another province.

Recently, we covered bilingualism in Ontario. Any time there is a subject of interest to francophones in Canada, the show makes a point of including it in its programming or its editorial content.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you.

Ms. Lapointe is next.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Hello. I would like to welcome you and thank you for joining us today.

Earlier, you talked about looking for more revenue in your financial framework. What are you considering? What are you looking at?

[Catherine Cano]

It is a little early for that. Part of my mandate is to examine the different options. I think we have to keep an open mind.

Of course, there is no advertising on the television side, and that is not going to change.

Moreover, we produce documentaries. Another network might perhaps be interested in a second or third window of opportunity. These are possibilities.

There are also the social networks and YouTube. Some people have gone the trial and error route. We can learn from that and it gives us an advantage. My objective is to do an in-depth study of what works and what doesn't, not just with respect to potential revenue, but also with respect to the consumer experience.

There are things on some sites that work well. People are used to getting everything free of charge, so it is now more difficult to include advertising. We have to be smart about it. Our objective is not to drive people away, but to encourage them to consult our sites more frequently. It is quite the task. This is what almost all media organizations have to do now. Everyone is looking for the business model that is in sync with the explosion of new technologies.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you.

Therefore, it's coming; it's a work in progress.

[Catherine Cano]

Yes. I have only been on the job for two months. Therefore, I have not yet had the time.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Congratulations. You have been on the job for less time than we have.

[Catherine Cano]

Oh, oh!

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

A little earlier, you spoke about your objective of consolidating and modernizing. You mentioned social media. How do you plan to modernize CPAC?

[Catherine Cano]

We have a super team of experienced people with an incredible institutional memory. It is important to add people from all generations to this staff. We are talking about different consumers, people interested in being informed in a different way. Therefore, it is important for us to have that kind of representation on our staff in order for us to adapt and achieve our objectives.

We are reviewing our presence on social networks. For example, things are going very well on Twitter, where we have 70,000 followers. That is fantastic. This platform is growing. We are also on Facebook, where 80% of people go to get information. More people could follow us. The idea is to encourage or to get people to discover us.

As you know, there are a lot of offerings in the current world of information. How do we let people know that our content is different and worth looking at? That is the challenge for everyone, for all news organizations, not just CPAC. We have to have a presence where people are present. It is clear that we have to be on Facebook and we are going to do a lot on that platform.

We are talking about content with a lot of young people. Our idea is to survey a certain generation to find out what interests them about what is going on in Parliament and with public policy, and what they would do. I spoke about this with some young people I met. Often, it is the human side. We present the work you do in the House of Commons and in committees.

During the election campaign, our riding profiles were very successful. We reported on the candidates in their ridings. This allowed people to see and understand the issues in the regions. It led to an understanding of people's priorities, for example. All regions are different. Many of you are from very different areas. There is a lot of information. It allows people to understand their country.

My dream is that CPAC will be the forum that will help people discover all the different regions across the country and the different regional realities, because we do not always have the opportunity to hear debate about that in Parliament. It happens more in your day-to-day work in your office in Ottawa or in your riding. That is one of our priorities for the fall. We want to build on what we tried during the election campaign and to capitalize on it. It was a real success. Honestly, besides the debates, it was what we heard people talking about the most.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Thank you very much.

I will leave some time for my colleague...

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

In any event, it is now Mr. Samson's turn.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes, I know, but that was so very interesting.

I will now turn it over to Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I very much appreciate it, Ms. Lapointe.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

That said, I would have gladly continued.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

No doubt.

I would like to congratulate you on your new position.

First, I am quite pleased that CPAC is included in the skinny basic package, as you mentioned. That is vital and extremely important.

My colleague asked a question about francophones outside Quebec. I am very interested in that. I would really like to know what the percentage is in order to determine how that could perhaps be increased. You do not have to give me that information today.

One idea comes to mind: you could meet with me tomorrow and we could do a four- or five-hour interview. That would make for a good percentage. I think that would work well.

[Some hon. members]

Oh, oh!

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We are going to play a little game, because I know the committee chair very well and I know that he will soon cut me off. Therefore, I am going to very quickly ask you four questions and I would like a 30- to 45-second answer, please.

First, I would like to talk about some comments my colleagues from New Brunswick have made to me. Many people switch from one language to the other when giving a speech. Alternate paragraphs or pages are given in French and English. There is a French stream and an English stream. People using the English stream to listen to me—many people like to listen to me—do not want to change the stream when, all of a sudden, I switch to French, or to English.

Have you ever thought of having the text in the other language appear at the bottom of the screen so that people do not have to change stream? They could listen to the speech in the language they prefer and, if all of a sudden we speak in the other language, they could see the text scroll along the bottom. I hear these comments fairly often.

Please provide a 45-second answer.