Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Last week, the CBC broadcast the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame gala, and during that broadcast they cut out the francophone portions of the broadcast. What ensued was a great controversy, wherein many people were quite upset that the CBC had done this. In particular, singer Claude Dubois voiced his strenuous objections to it.
Since this is the heritage committee, which has oversight over the CBC, I want to point out that the 1991 Broadcasting Act mandates that Radio-Canada and the CBC provide programming that—there are three points: actively contributes to the flow and exchange of cultural expression; is in English and in French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities; contributes to shared national consciousness and identity.
I think the third section is the most relevant to this controversy. I also think we have here an opportunity as a committee—because I sense that the study of the bill in front of us today is winding up—to have CBC appear in front of our committee to explain how they are fulfilling that part of their mandate, in particular the part of their mandate that demands that they contribute to shared national consciousness and identity. I think there might be an opportunity for the committee to take a look at this for one or two committee meetings.