I would like to circulate two sheets to the committee. One is on per capita public funding for public broadcasting for basically all countries, just so we can put it into context. On the second sheet, because on and off we ask what is a public broadcaster and what does a public broadcaster do, we've chosen BBC, ABC, RAI--I can't figure out this other one--and we look at the percentage of their schedule that goes into drama, sports, news. I give it to you for information purposes because if we're going to have a discussion and a debate, we should look at what other countries do and what Canada has done historically in order to decide exactly what the answer is. Quite frankly, that's why to me the mandate review was so important. I can't say I want to get out of this or that, but I can say I can't do this or that unless we're ready to put the money into it. So the mandate review is an opportunity to define what a public broadcaster is at this time.
On September 27th, 2006. See this statement in context.