Thank you, Peter.
First and foremost, we need to say that the Canadian Television Fund has been a hugely important engine in the creation of television for Canadian children. Children's television is one of Canada's media success stories. Canadian producers and broadcasters draw an incredibly diverse cross-section of talented Canadian artists and technicians to produce programming that is not only relevant to Canadian children, but also to children around the world. This content creation extends beyond television to include emerging and so-called new media platforms including web-based activities and interactive games. Kids are the early adopters of new technologies and content creators need to be at the forefront of this next wave of content creation in order to continue to win the attention of Canadian children.
Many Canadian broadcasters program Canadian children's shows in priority positions in their schedules, not because they have to but because the shows compete successfully with non-Canadian programs. Given the chance and the choice, Canadian children watch programs made here, programs that reflect our culture and our values. Statistics for 2002-03 show that in English Canada, Canadian kids' programs captured 38% of the audience. In French Canada, Canadian kids' shows captured an impressive 55% of the audience.
To put this in context, drama and comedy in English Canada captured only 10% of the audience. We agree that Canadian drama needs help, but it cannot be at the expense of children's television.
A recent study entitled The Case for Kids' Programming, commissioned by our organization in partnership with the CFTPA, the National Film Board, and the Shaw Rocket Fund, demonstrates that both the dollar value of children's programming produced in Canada and the share of the overall CTF budget devoted to children's television have been declining. The research shows that the production of children's television has fallen overall, from $389 million in 1999-2000 to $283 million in 2005-06. That's a drop of 25%. From 2002-03 to 2005-06 the contribution of the Canadian Television Fund to kids' programming has decreased from 22.8% of its budget to 18.6% of its budget. That's a drop of 17%.
While we believe a strong CTF is an important component of the Canadian broadcasting landscape, we also believe that more resources need to be devoted to programming targeted at our youngest viewers, our most receptive, open audience, and that those funds need to be broadened beyond television.
Canadian children's television reaches audiences in Canada and abroad. It's an area in which Canadian creators are second to none. It reflects our culture and our values to our most receptive audience and it offers unparalleled opportunities to harness the potential of new technologies.
So why, we ask, should the funding of children's television be a second priority? We remain supportive of the CTF as a vehicle for the funding of Canadian programming, but we also believe that we need to rethink the spending priorities. Canada's children should come first.
Thank you.