Mrs. Jacqueline Turgeon at the Canadian Heritage Committee

On May 25th, 2007. See this statement in context.

May 25th, 2007 / 9:15 a.m.

President, Syndicat de Radio-Canada, section locale, Conseil provincial du secteur des communications du Syndicat canadien de la fonction publique

Jacqueline Turgeon

Mr. Angus, I'm going to answer your question. In 1995, the former Minister of Finance, Paul Martin, cut the CBC's budget by $495 million. Consequently, our budget is still not at the level where it was before the budget cuts.

The CBC/Radio-Canada tried to save what it could and tried to maintain as many services as possible. However, as a result of the budget cuts, the corporation had to make certain decisions that might not necessarily have been consistent with what all Canadians wanted.

If we restored to the CBC the means to carry out its mandate properly, because we believe it is still highly valid, I think it will be able to do so. Every place will then see its own personality reflected in the information programs and television productions.

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