Thank you, Mr. Kotto.
What we are suggesting is to improve and increase the financial contributions to Canada's broadcasting system and, more particularly, as you may suspect, to the Quebec French-language space where most of our activities occur. You said earlier that 16,000 jobs were in jeopardy. We have no intention of jeopardizing these jobs, on the contrary. With the additional funding that we intend to inject in the industry, there might even be an increase in the number of jobs.
We want to ensure that the francophone side of Canada's broadcasting system is solid. We are aiming to occupy all of the audiovisual environment, which is no longer limited to television alone. There were previously two large entertainment and information media: newspapers and conventional television. That was the environment in which the Canadian Television Fund was created. That environment has exploded.
Because of today's distribution channels, audiences that once watched only conventional television have moved, and our advertising revenue has followed them.
Do you think we were happy about cancelling the heavy series called Vice caché? Along with my associates and my family members, I watched the series and thought that it was very well done. Unfortunately, we were not able to fund it because the audience, which started out at 2 million, dropped to under 1 million.
The program is as good as any American one. We could compare it to Desperate Housewives that the CBC has bought to air on its network. Unfortunately, we no longer have the financial means to produce Vice caché because the audience has moved to other channels. Rest assured that we intend to maintain a high level of funding for Canadian programming.