Mr. Chairman, gentlemen, I would like to introduce Lise Lachapelle, who is Director General of the Association des réalisateurs et des réalisatrices du Québec. Thank you for having us.
We could simply walk away because we agree with what the producers have just said. Moreover, who will say that we don't agree with them? So there will be unanimity, in a way, between what we have to tell you, what we have written for you and what the producers have just told you.
I would remind you that we represent approximately 550 freelance film and television producers in Quebec and that we are recognized for all of Quebec for all films made in all languages, except those made in English, which belong to the Quebec Chapter of the Directors Guild of Canada. So we are Radio-Canada's first customers. We are in the front line with the producers. For that reason, we virtually hope that the same things will continue on both sides and that they will increase in other sectors.
I will briefly read the preamble that you no doubt have in your hands. Every since its founding, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has unquestionably played an historic and crucial role in the development of communication and creativity in Canada. This may be even more true in Quebec, where the French arm of the CBC has made it possible for a language and culture unique in North America to take root and to blossom.
Certainly the landscape of television, which is what concerns us directly, has been substantially transformed over the past 40 years with the arrival of private networks, pay TV, specialty channels and the Internet. These upheavals, however, far from threatening the CBC’s role have on the contrary demonstrated its absolute necessity. They have shown that, like the model on which Canada’s public broadcaster was originally based, the BBC, it must remain the preferred locus for democratic exchange and creativity free from political and commercial constraints. We would even assert that the CBC will survive only on condition that it stand out from its direct and indirect competitors and that it open its airwaves to the diverse peoples and cultures that inhabit Canada, from sea to sea to sea.
Lastly, while the television landscape is our topic here, we consider that the CBC Radio model, with its various -- and varying -- channels, points the way to follow, by largely devoting itself, so appealingly and effectively, to news and culture.
I won't read the 11 principles and recommendations that you'll find in our brief. We want the CBC to be independent, pluralist, that it not be privatized, that it be a state-of-the-art television network that leads by example, a popular network, but not populist.
I will perhaps emphasize one point, recommendation 8, which states:
The CBC must do more to assist the growth of Quebec and Canadian cinema by investing substantially in film development, production and distribution; this could perhaps be made mandatory for it.
It is curious to say, but I think that would help it a great deal, especially in English Canada, if such a measure existed. You know that English Canada has a lot of difficulty making contact with its audience. Quebec is much more successful. Nevertheless, it could also benefit from a joint venture between the private feature film industry here in Canada and the Crown corporation.
That system exists in a number of other countries in the world. The French model, in particular, produces an incredible number of feature films for television. We have always seen it as a way to put forward larger numbers of productions and also train technicians of all levels, actors and even the public.
In conclusion, we say that Radio-Canada must be the preferred vehicle of information, knowledge and culture among and for all Canadians. We emphasize the fact that, as I said, it can be a popular television network, but it must avoid the traps of populism at all costs.
Without Radio-Canada, without the CBC, we do not see how culture could be maintained and progress in Canada. Culture is something that is cultivated, that is taught. Look at the state of gastronomy in Toronto today, relative to 40 years ago, and you will realize that English Canada has made an extraordinary leap. So we must not consider giving people the cultural fast food they demand at any cost, on the pretext that it's more profitable than culture. We must not fall into that trap. On the contrary, the CBC and the federal government must increasingly affirm their mission as informers, Canadian cultural agents for all and among all Canadians.
That was the essential part of what we had to tell you, in addition to what I didn't read. Thank you very much for your attention.
