Canadian Heritage Committee on April 26th, 2007

[André Courchesne]

I will ask my colleague who takes care of partnerships, Mr. Goldsmith, to answer your question.

[John Goldsmith, Director, Partnership, Networking and Arts Promotion, Canada Council for the Arts]

Not exactly. We help manage the CBC Literary Awards, which would be one of the partnerships we have with the corporation, by providing them with the criteria. We also help them with promotion, but it is not a transfer of funds.

In some other cases, like the advertising for the Governor General's Literary Awards, it is simply a transfer of information. We provide a lot of information, and they are very competent and willing in terms of providing the space and promoting both the awards and the award winners.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

My final question will be very short: in English Canada, we are currently seeing an Americanization of Canadian culture. Do you agree with that statement?

[André Courchesne]

It is an ever present threat that we have been facing since the beginning of Canadian history. Radio-Canada/CBC, like the Canada Council for the Arts, was created precisely to meet that challenge, namely of being a country with a small population covering a vast territory. We have been doing it for 50 years. I think both organizations must recognize that. For example, the Canada Council was recently given an increase in funding for its 50^th anniversary. In order for the CBC to continue to play its role, it will need more resources.

[Diane Bourgeois, Bloc, Terrebonne—Blainville, QC]

Perfect. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Maka Kotto]

Thank you, Ms. Bourgeois.

Ms. Priddy.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses.

I'd like to talk a little bit about the up-and-coming artists and the role that the CBC plays in that.

I know that part of the mandate of the Canada Council is to foster that growth and study and enjoyment of works in the arts, and that the CBC brief talked about promoting young artists. I'm sure everybody at the table has heard—certainly I have many times from the person who usually sits in this chair—the role that the CBC played in his history and the role of the band he had, called the Grievous Angels, and how that actually was a launching pad for him.

I come from Surrey, British Columbia, where we have a very large population whose country of origin is India. I now sometimes get to turn on my radio on CBC and I start to hear music from India, readers reading from India, because we have many wonderful artists, which I think is incredibly important. So launching those careers and exposing those regional artists to people is important.

I would ask you two questions. One, has there been any change in the approach of the CBC in recent years with respect to that promotion of the arts, the promotion of new artists whom people have not been exposed to? Second, are there changes that you would recommend for the CBC in order to support or bolster the impact that it has on the promotion of new Canadian artists?

[John Goldsmith]

I think, Mr. Chair, what the CBC has achieved is pretty remarkable in terms of the way they've managed to populate much of their programming with Canadian artists and Canadian content. There are numerous examples that come to mind. You've cited a few. But I think they've been able to present new artists in their regular-stream programming, as well as on programs that are destined to cover the arts only. I think of programs of general interest, like Stuart McLean on the English radio network, where he features artists, musical artists in particular.

Local radio features artists, either performing live or recordings of these artists. I think there has been an increased emphasis in the last few years. I think the new work they're doing on other platforms, in terms of the Internet, has been a new approach that responds to not only the artists but the audiences that are looking for some other way of reaching and hearing this work.

In terms of what we might do better, we don't have any particular advice for them, except that they should be expanding as much as possible their coverage in these new platforms.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

So obviously you agree that it's an important role, the promotion of young artists or new artists whom we haven't been exposed to, and that one of your recommendations would be that they perhaps take greater use of other stages or platforms to do that.

Would you have any other comments?

[André Courchesne]

Yes. The recent evolution of technology has changed the way of production of many artists, speaking more specifically of media artists, film artists, music artists. The production has moved from sharing a studio to home, most of the time. So you are in a situation where you have more and more autonomous production of art, but the dissemination is lacking.

This is where we see a specific role for the CBC--dissemination of these works of art that are not channelled through the regular ways they used to be. There was a way to get to a concert before that is not done any more because of a change in the evolution of the media and the technology. I think CBC has a major role in providing this access to the public.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

So it would be a change in the role, should you have a magic wand or be able to recommend to the CBC. It would be a change in the way that the art is coming up, whether that is music or writing--whatever it is--to disseminate it in a greater way and make it more accessible to those young artists.

[André Courchesne]

Exactly.

[Penny Priddy, NDP, Surrey North, BC]

Thank you.

I think I'm fine, thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Bloc, Maka Kotto]

Thank you, Ms. Priddy.

Mr. Warkentin.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for coming in this morning, gentlemen, and sharing with us your thoughts on the CBC and the work and the relationships that you have.

Obviously you know we're working toward some recommendations with regard to the mandate of the CBC. We thank you for your contribution in terms of the relationship that you have, but I'd like to bring us back to the issue of the mandate review that we're undertaking. I think the previous member was asking about specific recommendations that you might have for the actual mandate.

I'm not sure, but my sense is that maybe you're very comfortable with the current mandate. If that's the case, that's fine, but I'm wondering if you have any specific changes you would like to see in the mandate of the CBC.

[André Courchesne]

We've alluded to some of the fulfillment of the mandate that we would see better accomplished with increased funding. The first one would be regional voices.

As you know, the CBC, as well as the Canada Council, early on developed its presence in major urban centres. That has changed over 50 years.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Okay. Just so I'm clear on this, are you saying you're not as concerned about the mandate as you are about the way the mandate is being carried out?

[André Courchesne]

Exactly.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Okay. So at this point you don't have any specific recommendations in terms of the actual mandate as it is currently written?

[André Courchesne]

No, we don't.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

You have no issues. Okay.

Because we do have a few minutes, I'd like to talk a bit about previous witnesses' testimony in terms of the relevance of CBC and ensuring its long-term relevance, especially in this increasingly competitive media world we're finding ourselves in, with the different platforms that were discussed before.

Is there any area in that whole realm in which you might see the CBC being a little bit more proactive, in terms of their movement into those different things or in having a solid footing in this increasingly competitive world?

[John Goldsmith]

To get back a bit to your question of mandate, I think the mandate, like the Canada Council's, is very enabling; it's a permissive mandate, in the sense that it allows them a fairly broad range of activity within the spirit of that mandate. I think it's for that reason that we think it is a good mandate and one they can operate within.

After reading some of the testimony of previous witnesses, I think it's clear that the CBC is transitioning into multiple platforms, and our feeling is that to reach the newer generations, the younger generations, they need to be as effective in these other platforms as they have been in radio and television. It seems the initiatives they are taking in those areas are good ones, but it seems to us that they could pursue those with more attention to reaching those younger audiences, which to us is a very important element of the future of Canadians, understanding Canadians, and understanding the cultural life of this country.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

Is it your assessment that they can do that within the current mandate, and there's no requirement to change the mandate to encourage them to do it?

[John Goldsmith]

I don't believe so. I would leave that to more technical expertise, but I don't believe it requires a change in the mandate.

[Chris Warkentin, Conservative, Peace River, AB]

We appreciate that. That answers the question, and we'll include it in the report.

Thank you very much.