Thank you, Wayne.
Telefilm's board is also concerned with the corporation's increasing need for flexibility to meet its objectives and to improve its client service.
The Telefilm Canada Act that was passed by Parliament in March 2005 conferred the powers of a natural person on us—therefore, full rights and the legal capacity to exercise them—as well as a legislative mandate that covers the entire Canadian audio-visual industry, and no longer only “film” as the original 1967 legislation stipulated. Nevertheless, these two essential acknowledgements are constrained by significant administrative limitations and are ultimately paralyzing.
This is not our finding, but that of the Auditor General of Canada herself in her report tabled in Parliament in November, 2005.
Allow me to quote two short excepts from her report. The first is:
Today, in light of this new mandate and the government's proposals on the governance of Crown corporations, we question whether it is still relevant for Canadian Heritage to maintain the MOUs and contribution agreements with Telefilm Canada in their current form...
The second excerpt is:
...some members of the Telefilm Board have expressed concerns about the extent of the oversight that Telefilm Canada is subjected to, which leaves the board with little leeway to interpret its mandate and determine the best way to accomplish it. None of the other eight Crown corporations in the Canadian heritage portfolio is subject to such a tight degree of oversight and monitoring. Moreover, no other Federal Crown corporation is evaluated and audited in this way by a department. This is a unique situation.
In other words and to state it clearly, in order to get out of this situation, Telefilm Canada wishes to be subject to part X of the Financial Administration Act and in this way be able to function like any other modern crown corporation. For us, modern means operating within the framework of contemporary financial legislation in which the roles, responsibilities and obligations of the administrators and directors are as clearly identified and defined as are the obligations that crown corporations have as far as the preparation and presentation of their business plan and related budget are concerned, as well as the content of their annual report.
Under the authority of the Financial Administration Act, Telefilm Canada will immediately begin to operate not only as a modern entity, but above all it would meet the highest requirements of contemporary governance, of corporate responsibility, of transparency and of administrative clarity, to the benefit both of its shareholder and of its clientele, which it is consistently attempting to serve with the greatest professionalism possible.
These changes and the modernization of the Telefilm Act to bring it into the 21st century will give us the desired flexibility, and for us, flexibility matched by accountability and transparency ensures the best value for the public dollar.
Flexibility also allows us to be leaders. Today's marketplace dictates that a great leader must be a visionary, one who foresees opportunities and seizes them. For Telefilm, those opportunities must deliver great homegrown content to as many Canadians as possible and that can be shared more and more with and appreciated by foreign audiences.
Mr. Chair, we would be pleased to answer the committee's questions about our role, mandate, and priorities. Thank you very much.