Finance committee  It may be so, but it is recognized. And I believe that we did not steal our status, nor did any of the organizations in the arts and culture sector to which this applies. Even among the largest ones that have that status, I don't believe there's one that draws more than 10% of its revenue from donations.

Finance committee  To sum up, the CCA considers this bill ill-conceived, intrusive, and unnecessary, and would urge you to defeat it. Thank you for your attention. I'll be pleased to answer any questions you may have.

Finance committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good afternoon, members of the committee. My name is Alain Pineau and I'm the national director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to present our views on Bill C-470. The CCA is the oldest and most broadly based cultural umbrella organization in Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  That goes back to the comment of a previous witness. His name escapes me. He talked about the importance—

Canadian Heritage committee  That's very appropriate. This goes back to what he was saying about the importance of ensuring that the gatekeepers play the game honestly and that a regulatory agency establishes fundamental principles. Regulation isn't necessarily a bad thing. It depends on the way it's applied.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, I believe it accelerates it instead. As I said in my presentation, it raises a lot of questions that have to be resolved, such as people's professional status, what applies to whom, rights, royalties and intellectual property. I was asked the question earlier, but it was impossible for me to answer it in the circumstances.

Canadian Heritage committee  It's very hard to use a language that expresses the at times geographic distinctions that we would like to make. In this case, perhaps I could have said the francophone or anglophone markets. It depends on the subject. I've long been responsible for regional situations concerning francophones outside Quebec at Radio-Canada, and I'm familiar with the problems of language associated with certain subjects.

Canadian Heritage committee  We currently have approximately 570 members, 200 of whom are individuals who support the work we're doing. The others are organizations, and I can name a few of them for you. Most of the people who have come or who come and appear before you are representatives of member organizations of the conference.

Canadian Heritage committee  Sixty per cent of the funding for the Canadian Conference of the Arts comes from a contribution agreement with the Department of Canadian Heritage, which thus acknowledges our work. Nothing in that applies to our public representation work. That's for our research and reporting work.

Canadian Heritage committee  Theoretically, it should promote it. When we talk about regulation or adapting the regulatory system to the digital universe, to the Internet, to wireless and all that, we definitely don't advocate the same remedies that applied to another technology. What's important today is to make the content available and, for that to be done, first and foremost, there has to be content.

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a regulator. I would like to see what kind of laws. We are saying what kind of rules, and how this could be approached. What we are saying is that if we are not very careful, it's through the back door of foreign trade negotiations that we may throw out the baby with the bathwater.

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, I don't know; you catch me off-balance on this one, because I have never thought of those lines. I mean, we have allowed concentration of ownership over the past decade, or maybe 15 years, in order to be efficient and compete. The vehicle and the content are more and more difficult to distinguish, so maybe we would lose a competitive advantage, and there may be other ways of trying to prevent that danger we're seeing.

Canadian Heritage committee  If you're saying that those are the remarks of the Minister of Industry, yes, obviously. That's not his concern; it's the concern of Mr. Moore. We were pleased to see that three ministers were involved in the announcement made on Monday, including the Minister of Heritage and the Minister of Human Resouces and Skills Development Canada, because all these sectors are extremely important in the development of a digital strategy.

Canadian Heritage committee  Far behind other countries, yes, it appears. I heard the previous witness say that depends. It's difficult; it's a constant race. We're on a treadmill.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I think we urgently need to have a comprehensive strategy that covers all aspects. Pardon me; I missed the start of your question.