Evidence of meeting #59 for Canadian Heritage in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was cbc.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
No, I do not think that is the case.
It's not distorted, it's just journalistic norms, I think.
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
This programming does not meet journalistic standards of presenting different viewpoints and standards of objectivity.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
All right. Following that, you stated that this limits the number of possible broadcasters to show projects on international development subjects. What is the connection between the CBC's refusal to broadcast these subjects and the limit on the number of other broadcasters willing to show this programming? Could you clarify that?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
Sir, could you please repeat the question?
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
Here is an excerpt from your brief:The CBC has had a policy of not broadcasting documentaries if the Canadian International Development Agency, CIDA, is involved. Other broadcasters have not had the same problem, and the CIFVF continues to fund projects in which CIDA is a financial partner. The CBC's refusal to show CIDA-financed projects therefore limits the number of possible broadcasters to show projects on international development subjects.
Is the CBC the only broadcaster to refuse to show these documentaries, and does its refusal mean that other broadcasters will refuse to broadcast projects as well?
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
No, in my opinion, it's only the CBC. Other broadcasters haven't backed down.
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
It is negative for the producers because they cannot make any money. It is an issue of having another means of broadcasting...
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
All right, I understand you perfectly. However, if the CBC is concerned about ensuring that the information it disseminates is objective, do you not feel it is legitimate on its behalf to...
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
CIDA is largely funded by the Canadian government, which shows the support that Canada grants to the other inhabitants of this planet. The CBC is largely funded by Canadian taxpayers. It has the mandate to contribute to a shared consciousness and to national identity. We are wondering how one works against the other.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
It has the mandate to inform, and informing implies a certain level of objectivity.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You state that the public broadcaster, the CBC/SRC, should not compete with private broadcasters. Do you think that is still a realistic objective, in view of audience fragmentation and volatility, if there is no increase in or strengthening of public financial support?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
Are you talking about the CBC?
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
It isn't only a matter of funding. The CBC also has a mandate to fulfill.
Bloc
Maka Kotto Bloc Saint-Lambert, QC
—which could disappear. Will defending its mandate within a context of competition, audience fragmentation and volatility and focusing solely on this objective be enough to ensure the corporation's viability?
I am playing the devil's advocate.
President, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
I admit that it is a tough question to answer.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you very much for coming in this morning. We appreciate your being here.
There are a couple of questions I want to ask, but I should confess to begin with that I believe the CBC has an important role to play in preserving our national unity. That's just a personal belief of mine, and I think you'd find some consensus on that throughout the country in certain areas--but maybe not all areas. So I come to this from maybe a little different perspective from others.
You say in your testimony that the CBC should not be offering programs intended to attract mass audience, in competition with private broadcasters. I have to ask, if Canadians or all taxpayers are paying for this program, why are we not attempting to attract them? What target audience are you specifically going after? I think there was some comment that we're preaching to the converted; we're trying to attract a certain audience that already has a strong sense of national unity. I'm wondering who exactly you and your organization believe the CBC should be attracting, and why not the rest.
Executive Director, Canadian Independent Film and Video Fund
I just wonder, going back to this example of The Week The Women Went, whether that's something the CBC should be spending its money and time on, whether that shouldn't be done by the private sector, by the private broadcasters.
I take your point about everybody paying into the CBC, and maybe it's a question of trying to seek a better balance of things that are geared towards national identity, trying to keep the discourse at a certain level. I don't know.
It's like we all pay for education, but not all of us have kids.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
I take some exception to that. If we don't all have kids, we were all at one point educated, or for the most part, all Canadians took advantage of the public school system. So it's a little bit different when we're looking at the mass—
