Hello and welcome.
I come from New Brunswick, and I understand how important Radio-Canada is for francophones outside Quebec.
I think there's also an alliance we would have as New Brunswickers, independent of just the language question. Absent the CBC, even in the capital of the province of New Brunswick we would not see ourselves on the suppertime news; we would be watching ATV out of Halifax. It would give us some coverage, but certainly not what we have come to expect from the CBC.
So I think there's a broad question about not only seeing ourselves on a national public broadcast, but also wanting the rest of Canada to see us in ways that are unique to our regions. In the example from Acadie in Moncton and Radio-Canada, that's obvious, but it's not unique to that. I think there's a broad issue there.
The problem we will have is how to deal with the arm's-length relationship with a public broadcaster. I think we share a view that resources are a problem. It's less difficult for me perhaps than for some of my colleagues, but in order to generate consensus in the country to support the CBC to the extent necessary to meet the mandate spelled out in the Broadcasting Act, there are certain expectations.
In our case it would be regional. The Radio-Canada side should have many of the same concerns—perhaps not as vividly as you would express them. Because Radio-Canada has a presence in Moncton, Acadie is served the best, outside of Quebec, in French-speaking Canada. Regardless of that, there would be certain expectations for that expenditure. Yet because we're politicians and there's an arm's-length relationship, it's hard to say, “We will increase the budget of CBC, but here's what we expect for that.” What happens if we don't see it? What happens if we don't have an increased budget for local suppertime news or the kind of service you expect?