The big scary words are “quotas” and “percentages”. I think that has to be when you're talking about the contribution agreement. This is why I'm saying I'm not necessarily for quotas and I'm not for telling them how to do their job, but I think there have to be expectations that the regions will be supplying content in all their genres, for local, regional, and national broadcasts, and that they have to have a discussion about how much money it's going to cost to do that.
In the past 25 years there has been a big change in the picture. There are federal tax credits, provincial tax credits, the Canadian Television Fund, and provincial agencies. Therefore, it seems to trigger all these projects.
Right now, there's always this debate that here's money set aside for the regions, and if it's not set aside, then we're going into the Montreal budget. That debate skews everything. At the end of the day, you're going to get to a budget; you're going to get to some kind of quota. But there has to be a serious dialogue about this subject.
I know the debate is always about them wanting the least amount of commitment in that contribution agreement and you wanting more, but I think the regions have to be discussed. You have to sit there with Rabinovitch and the people who figure it out: How do we ensure the regions are in this? This means the television fund and everybody else could be part of the discussions, because they are willing to do this.