Mr. Chair, I find the CEO's statement very surprising. But that is all in the past. We have to remember that the $400 million cuts were made 10 years ago. Canada's economy was then considered a Third World economy. Today, we have the pleasure of hearing the Minister of Finance announce surpluses. I think it is better to announce surpluses than to announce cutbacks.
It allows us to come together and discuss our programs and to tell the Minister of Finance that it would be great to renew them, and even to add some new ones. It is harder to do that when there is a deficit.
That being said, Radio-Canada was my home for four years. My show was live every day. I have strong feelings for the institution of Radio-Canada and the CBC. The CEO of CBC and I spoke last week about the possibility of reviewing regional programming in order to bring back Radio-Canada and the CBC closer to the communities across Canada, since it is in their mandate to do so.
Mr. Rabinovitch is supposed to submit his strategic plan for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. We will use this plan as a framework to see what we can do and how much flexibility we have.
Again, discussions on the CBC, museums, Telefilm Canada and Tomorrow starts today are taking place today, right now, at this very moment. They will also be held next week with our colleagues during the redistribution exercise.
Of course, what is most important to say right now is that yes, we are deeply committed to Radio-Canada and the CBC.