One of the issues that has been raised here at our committee is whether or not CBC is somehow unfairly stepping on the turf of private broadcasters, and whether they should have any role in being able to access advertising dollars, whether they should be in the local markets that private broadcasters are in. I've asked my friends in private broadcast to explain what's in it for the public benefit, for us, and I'm still trying to get a clear answer.
It seems to me we have simultaneous substitution, which puts all of our shows basically into the minor leagues. We have section 19.1 of the Income Tax Act, which gives private broadcasters a protected market and revenues of around $300 million, and specialty channels much higher. We now have unlimited commercials. We have the ability of private broadcasters to access taxpayers' dollars to produce their shows through the CTF. We have promise of further deregulation. Yet I'm not seeing anywhere in this scenario a balance where the private broadcasters are stepping up to the plate to ensure that we have competitive, interesting Canadian programming that will offset what's not there on CBC.
I throw it out to anybody. If we're going to look at a multi-channel universe, there has to be a balance between public and private broadcast. Does a balance exist right now?