I'd also like to cite an example that occurred in the eastern part of the country, in the Lower St. Lawrence, where I live. Some 15 years ago, Radio-Canada was operating a television station in the City of Rimouski, a market twice as big as those of Rivière-du-Loup and Rouyn. For economic reasons, the corporation said it could no longer operate a station in that market.
We operate in markets half that size. Twenty years later, we are still there, and we produce news broadcasts every day. I'm citing that example in response to the question you asked in your document, whether private affiliates can continue to play a role in the Canadian broadcasting system, particularly with CBC/Radio-Canada. I'm telling you: we are ready to do it.
Mr. Angus referred to many specialty services, but they virtually don't serve the regions. The only way of reaching a mass of citizens is still conventional television. I know there are community and other radio stations, but here I'm talking about television. We're ready to continue playing this role, as we have for 50 years, when the corporation couldn't afford to do so. At the time, Radio-Canada said that television was so costly that it could not afford to provide it across the country and that it would limit itself to the major cities.
We helped extend CBC/Radio-Canada's service and we would like to continue doing that. We are able to do it very well.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.