Good morning.
I'm a TV producer in my other life at CBC, and I do know what a clock looks like, so I will keep my remarks to what your needs are too.
I'm Lise Lareau. I am national president of the Canadian Media Guild. I'm joined by Marc-Philippe Laurin, who is the president of our branch at the CBC, and by Benoit Cantin, who is the host of an Ontario regional radio program called L'Ontario aujourd'hui.
We are representing the front-line folks at CBC, the people who make the programming we're talking about, the people who sell ads, the people who support all that broadcasting--all the hosts, the producers, the stars, the non-stars, all of it.
You've heard a lot of good over the past few weeks and you've heard some bad things about our national public broadcaster. In the end, what we really hope you do--you four parties sitting together on a committee--is retain the idea that CBC is an important cultural institution that we all love, and agree among you, even on just a few things.
A lot of us at this table--I see a couple--are veterans of these hearing processes examining where the CBC is going. If I can ask you just to find a few things that you can all agree on and that survives minority politics, all of us who are at the CBC would be really grateful.
I trust you've read our brief, “A cry for help”. It gives you some idea of where we come from. Today we're concentrating on the recommendations and not the crying, because we want to focus on the positive and not the negative.
Despite the hard times our members have endured over the last few years, the overwhelming majority of us are excited to go to work every day to deliver news, to deliver analysis, laughs, tears, companionship, and food for thought to Canadians. They work to reach the diversity of Canadians, no matter where their audiences are, where they live, how old they are, or how they choose to connect to the CBC.
It's important to point out, as they say, that it's not your grandmother's CBC anymore. It's changed. Since the CBC was before you, the national radio ratings came out. In four urban markets, the morning radio show is number one. It says a lot.
The CBC is more urban than you'd think, and it's appealing to a younger age group than what you'd think. TV shows such as The Rick Mercer Report, The Hour, and Tout le monde en parle appeal to Canadians of all ages--and that's rare on TV and radio--who are interested in engaging in laughing about political, social, and cultural issues that are rocking our country.
Perhaps most importantly for the 21st century, this programming is increasingly connected to and often available solely on new media platforms. As I know the CBC reiterated to you earlier, cbc.ca has become one of the most popular Internet downloads available to Canadians.
The news services of CBC/Radio-Canada remain the most trusted sources of information. We know that. From the investigative reporting of the fifth estate, which just broke a lot of news lately about the lottery scandal in Ontario, and Zone Libre, to the day-to-day coverage provided by all its extensive radio and TV news teams, Canadians really rely on the CBC and Radio-Canada to inform them. It's become part of our fabric. And there's a lot of life in the place, no matter what it sometimes looks like.
At the same time, it should be noted that I would not be representing our members if I did not say that for many of us the CBC is not a livelihood. It really is a life's work and it's a calling. Their commitment comes through with virtually everything they do. And that's why, after all these years of financial uncertainty, debates, and various struggles, people in this country still support the CBC and they are scandalized when it's taken away from them.
What would solve some of the problems we've been dealing with and you've been hearing about? Well, for starters, a positive and long-term mandate from Parliament. You've heard it from many people. If we're not clear about what the CBC is doing, it's tough to function. So we echo the CBC and Radio-Canada in calling for a 10-year mandate that sets out Canadians' expectations from their public broadcaster. That's a really basic start.
Second, and equally basic, is increased and stable funding. You've heard about the Nordicity study from many who have come before you showing where the CBC ranks in the world in terms of funding. We know it's at the very bottom of the heap. New Zealand and another country are at the bottom. It doesn't matter really where we fall in the funding, based on per capita per year, considering who our closest neighbour is. The average is $80 per year for all industrialized countries. Now the CBC is at $33 per year per capita, as you've heard. We're recommending it be upped to $45 per capita, be phased in over the next 10 years, and be indexed to inflation, a key thing. The CBC and others have been before you and said it's fine to have one figure, but if that's not indexed to inflation, you're losing year over year.
I know you're tired of that, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't reiterate it.
If this committee or others come out with a proposal to replace some of that funding or to eliminate ads from the CBC, my friend here wouldn't be happy. I'll talk about that in a little while, but we would obviously have to look at $45 per capita. It probably wouldn't be enough in that context.
Why does the CBC need more money? It needs more money to reach Canadians wherever they are with radio, TV, and new media programming. You've heard the desperate calls for this, and we'll talk about it a bit later. In addition, if I could change one single thing at the CBC, it would have to be the governance structure that would allow it to be free from political interference and truly accountable to Canadians. We'll talk about that a bit later.
First, I'll throw it over to my colleague, Marc-Philippe Laurin.