Jumping to the chase, I wanted to say that I was very impressed by the calibre of everyone's questions today, and the minister's announcement. I think our industry is in good hands, and I feel encouraged after appearing before you and listening to the questions today.
I truly believe we're at the edge of the cliff, because I do not believe letters to Shaw and Vidéotron will work. It has too far gone.
I agree very much with what the minister was saying today. Stability is the key. It is the key to maintaining our industry. Timing is critical, so I'd like to make a few suggestions, one of which has already been discussed this morning, and that is enacting subsection 7(1) of the Broadcasting Act and asking the minister to ask the Governor in Council to send a policy direction.
I know there is some discussion as to why it can't work, why it may not be feasible. I think it is feasible. I'd like to say that I'm not a lawyer, but I have worked with lawyers for a long time, on many different levels, such as arbitrations, grievances, negotiations, policy. The one thing I've found is that you can get a different opinion from any lawyer in town.
What I would suggest is that you send this to your experts. You have a whole panel of experts sitting over at the CRTC that we all pay for as taxpayers. They have several hundred employees, most of whom are lawyers. I would suggest that you immediately turn this over to the CRTC and let them decide whether or not this holds water. I think it does. It talks about all contributions. It can be an industry-wide review, not just of Shaw and Vidéotron, but of all contributions made by private companies. That would catch Shaw and Vidéotron in the same net.
There is a mechanism, but my concern is that if the CRTC doesn't get on the case now, we're losing valuable time. I've worked with the CRTC, and they don't move fast. You have to give them plenty of lead time in order to get a decision, so I would suggest that this is a course of action and that this needs to be done.
My question is, how long will we wait for an answer to a letter? What time period are we going to put on that? What I want you to really think about today is that timing is critical. The envelopes that fund the broadcasting system are being decided right now, as we speak.
This is not a matter of funding being in place until March 31. Right now, CTF staff are working at calculating the envelopes for the broadcasting system. If they do not have the 30%, they will calculate envelopes as though they do not have that money. Broadcasters will be given their envelopes as of April 1, and they will have 30% less.
I'm wrapping up. I'm jumping to the end.
That 30% less will mean we're not ready for production in the spring. We work very much on a clock for development and production. We have to produce in this country while we have the weather, and that's in June, July, and August. We have to get on this right now.
The last thing I want to mention is the loan. If we do not get an answer back to the letters—and I do believe the CRTC, even if you ask them today, will take several months to respond—we need a loan. I would like to leave you with that thought. I think it's an absolutely critical piece of the puzzle. If we do not have the loan in place by the end of March, we will lose the production year. It is a matter of timing and it's a matter of stability, and we very much need your help to save thousands of jobs and ensure that we have some Canadian content on our TV screens.
Thank you very much.