Good morning, my name is Benoit Cantin. I have been a journalist and host at Radio-Canada for seven or eight years now. Thanks to the corporation and my work, I have had the opportunity to spend time in many parts of Canada. I have worked in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. My assignments have taken me to many places, including Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton and Whitehorse.
Radio-Canada is extremely important for francophones! Owing to the quality and variety of the programming it offers throughout Canada, it is an exceptional broadcaster. Wherever you are in Canada, the programming has a local flavour. For example, you can listen to the morning radio show in French in Moncton, discover the social issues affecting Albertans simply by watching Le Téléjournal in that province and savour the charming Franco-Manitoban accent on CKSB.
What is striking when you visit the various regions in Canada is not only that you find francophones there, but that they defend their language and culture staunchly and vivaciously. Whether they are many or few, whether they are concentrated in one place or scattered over a large area, these francophones grow up, go to school and live in French.
Much of the credit for what I would call this amazing achievement goes to Radio-Canada, which has been playing a crucial role in support of these communities for the past 50 years. It brings people together, but it also acts as a catalyst for the French language. The public broadcaster must maintain and even strengthen its presence in Canada's regions, which make Canada's francophone colourful. Radio-Canada is a tremendous boon to francophones who in turn respond by being a faithful audience of radio and television programming.
I can give you an example. Just two years ago or so, when the Radio-Canada British Columbia signal began to be transmitted to Whitehorse, Yukon, francophones there kept telling us how happy they were. They told me that they were finally going to be able to see other francophones. So there is a very special connection between francophones in minority communities and Radio-Canada.
The concerns of francophones in Toronto are not necessarily the same as those of francophones in Victoria. And francophones in Sudbury and Regina do not experience the same things. This regional diversity must be reflected in the radio and TV programming provided by Radio-Canada. That is what gives its richness, its strength and its raison d'être.
In short, Radio-Canada must maintain its presence in the regions, and this presence is more important than ever today when we have so many channels, satellite radio, the Internet, etc. Radio-Canada is like a lighthouse in an anglophone sea for francophones.
Thank you.