Absolutely.
I think the legislation needs to be amended to acknowledge the importance of new media. The CBC has to be a player. It is a player and is showing tremendous leadership. This should be acknowledged in the legislation so it can pursue this aggressively. There's a big future in digital. The future is Internet-based, and the CBC has to continue on that track.
Some of these things require more money, and that has to come from increased parliamentary appropriation. But we also feel there is an opportunity here to redirect money from the Canadian Television Fund to the CBC. It now only gets 37% of that fund indirectly through independent producers. A dollar from the Canadian Television Fund goes a lot further with the CBC than with private broadcasters, because the CBC gives those programs shelf space in prime time, when there is the largest audience. So we're recommending the 37% be jacked up substantially.
The cable companies like you to believe it's their money they're contributing to this fund. It's not their money; it's money they've collected from subscribers as a condition of licence, so it's taxpayers' money no matter how you look at it.
This is very precise and specific. I'm sorry, Mr. Chair, if I went on too long, but I think we've covered pretty well everything we wanted to cover. We're open to your questions.
Thank you very much.