I'm going to make a comment on the impact that has on programming. It must be understood that what was taken from Paul will be given to Peter. The cuts that were made to CBC/Radio-Canada were made in order to create funding programs, particularly federal programs. Money isn't created in Ottawa or Quebec City. In the 1990s, Gérard Veilleux closed down the local stations. The budgets that were cut at Radio-Canada were given to little private sector friends through the funding programs. That has to be clearly understood.
People talked about the impact that had on Radio-Canada's French-language programming. The corporation had a revenue shortfall and had to make programming choices that, in some cases, were not necessarily consistent with its mandate. It had to take a private commercial direction where it had to go after ratings so that advertisers would pay money to offset the cuts. So programming choices were made. For example, in sports at Radio-Canada, La soirée du hockey is long gone. In English Canada, people could still watch Hockey Night in Canada. And yet Radio-Canada is a general-interest network. The sports field was taken over by the Réseau des sports, a private channel accessible solely by cable. Programming choices were made. The cuts had an impact: they changed the entire broadcasting universe.
At the coalition, we talk about holding a public debate on the future of public broadcasting. In fact, it's a debate on the future of television in Canada that we should have. I think that the federal government shouldn't just be talking about the CBC/Radio-Canada, but about the entire industry and prepare a report. Programs were created 15 or 20 years ago. Today, we have to see how far we've come; we see the crises that this is causing. Their convergence and new platforms are factors. I think we've gotten to the point where everyone in the industry in Canada has to sit down—that can be directed by the federal government—to sum up the position and see what is going on now. I think that, before long, we're going to wind up in a dead end. If we look at each of the factors one at a time, just CBC/Radio-Canada, just the private sector, or just funding, something will eventually occur and the machine will break down.