Canadian Heritage committee  Ah, yes, on the mechanism. At another time, we would have established a royal commission and, as the universe wasn't evolving so quickly then, two or three years later, we could have had some common sense suggestions. The mechanism is too unwieldy under the current system. I had occasion to speak with a number of people about this concept that the government had used, for example, in the case of the blue ribbon panel on the contribution agreements and scholarships.

Canadian Heritage committee  I don't know whether it's deliberate, but we seem to forget them. They must absolutely be taken into consideration. The subject is quite complex. I was alluding to “deprofessionalization” to a certain degree. That has to be taken into account. We currently have functional definitions of what a professional artist, a professional creator, is.

Canadian Heritage committee  Indeed, these are three very easy questions. For the first one, I'm going to suggest some kind of amendment to the Constitution of Canada stating that I can't answer that question for you in the 30 seconds you're allowing me. The question is very complex, and we can come back to it.

Canadian Heritage committee  We're saying that it is important to conduct this debate in an open and comprehensive, not piecemeal, manner because we are changing longstanding cultural policies. This is being done through an amendment to the Telecommunications Act that appears in an omnibus bill on the budget.

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Members of the committee, my name is Alain Pineau. I am National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts, the oldest and biggest umbrella organization in the culture, arts and heritage sector in Canada. The CCA's mandate is to foster informed debate on all federal policy and regulatory issues that concern this broad sector in one way or another.

Industry committee  No you cannot. You're not listening to what we're telling you. I'm sorry--

Industry committee  I apologize for my outburst--

Industry committee  --but you keep saying, “What I'm hearing”. Well, what you're not hearing is that.... I disagree fundamentally with both you and Mr. Garneau. We're not talking about the Telecommunications Act here. We're talking about the Broadcasting Act. You cannot erect a firewall between the two--that's what we're telling you--for a number of reasons, including the trade negotiations you are talking about, the trade agreements we have in place.

Industry committee  Mr. Garneau, I would like to answer your question on the assumption. I don't know whether this is what Canadians want, but I can tell you I found this in today's Citizen—it's an advertisement for the new WIND service. It's selling very well to Canadians, who think that telecommunications are too expensive.

Industry committee  The complexity and interconnectedness of the various instruments set up to promote and sustain Canadian cultural expression cannot be fully appreciated by taking a scattergun approach to federal policy development. Opening up foreign ownership and control of our telecommunications can only lead to tremendous pressures to do the same in cable and broadcasting.

Industry committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman, committee members. My name is Alain Pineau, and I am the National Director of the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Beside me are Mr. Garry Neil, President of Neil Craig Associates, our foreign ownership advisor. CCA is the oldest and most broadly-based arts, culture and heritage umbrella organization in Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  This is not something I can tackle in 30 seconds here, and even if you gave me an hour, I'm not sure I would be ready to answer that question point blank. I am stating that our society is culturally diverse. We have not gone the melting pot route. We are trying to honour and respect the various cultural traditions and backgrounds of the mosaic of Canadian society—which is more of a mosaic than it was when a book was written on that in the fifties—and to say that we should invest in that diversity in genres.

Canadian Heritage committee  I cannot quote the entire text, but the commitment has to do with preserving and promoting cultural diversity all over the world, on the international scene, and with recognizing that cultural products—if I can use this expression that some find offensive—and cultural expressions are not commercial products like the others.

Canadian Heritage committee  I am not going to speculate about the reasons why the government would make this kind of transfer. The most generous explanation that I can provide is that it was done inadvertently. You will have the opportunity next week to ask officials from Canadian Heritage if they recommended this.

Canadian Heritage committee  We seem to be talking at cross-purposes. Nobody disputes that the investment of the government, as was confirmed through the five-year renewal of the Canadian Music Fund, is needed. On better days, I would even argue that it's not enough. The issue here is that we're talking about something completely different, which is being suppressed for a good cause.