Canadian Heritage Committee on May 27th, 2008

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Thank you very much, Mr. Zukerman.

And drawing upon an offered letter seems to buy you more time than two cents, but I thank you very much for your intervention.

What I'm going to do now, before we go to the question and answer part of this meeting, is to ask each of the members of the committee—I'm advised that technically this isn't problematic—to identify themselves, their party, and their riding. And limit it to that, please.

I will start with myself, Andy Scott. I'm a Liberal member from Fredericton, New Brunswick.

[Joyce Murray, Liberal, Vancouver Quadra, BC]

I'm Joyce Murray, Liberal member for Vancouver Quadra.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Hedy Fry, member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre.

[Francis Scarpaleggia, Liberal, Lac-Saint-Louis, QC]

Francis Scarpaleggia, member of Parliament from Montreal. Lac-Saint-Louis is the name of the riding.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

I am Maria Mourani and I am a Bloc member for the riding of Ahuntsic, Montreal.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

My name is Luc Malo and I am a Bloc member for the riding of Verchères—Les Patriotes, which is situated on the south shore of Montreal.

[Bill Siksay, NDP, Burnaby—Douglas, BC]

I'm Bill Siksay, New Democrat, Burnaby—Douglas.

[Jim Abbott, Conservative, Kootenay—Columbia, BC]

My name is Jim Abbot, member of Parliament for Kootenay—Columbia.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

I'm Dean Del Mastro, member of Parliament for Peterborough, Ontario.

[Dick Harris, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

I'm Dick Harris, member of Parliament for Cariboo—Prince George.

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

I'm Ed Fast, member of Parliament for Abbotsford, which is also the home of Dr. Calvin Dyck, and we're very good friends.

[Harold Albrecht, Conservative, Kitchener—Conestoga, ON]

I'm Harold Albrecht, member of Parliament for Kitchener—Conestoga, Ontario.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Thank you very much to members of the committee.

Now we will go to our first round of questions. The first questioner is Dr. Fry, for five minutes.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Thank you very much, Chair.

Hi to all of you guys that I know, George and all of you.

You made a powerful case. Coming from Vancouver, you don't have to convince me about anything. However, we had the CBC come to us and we asked them about this issue, as well as about the classical music, and we got some specific answers.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

If I might, Dr. Fry, if you would look ahead at the camera....

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

Oh, sorry. I don't know where I can get my voice on, as well as with the camera.

Sorry for turning my back to you.

We talked to CBC a while ago and we asked them to explain to us why they were doing this, etc. And while I am aware of the problem and I support all of the very important points you have made, not the least of which is that this is the last remaining radio orchestra in North America, there are some solutions we need to talk about, and I wanted to ask you specifically some things.

CBC has suggested that by disbanding this orchestra they will be able to give regional orchestras across the country an option to appear regularly. That is the cheaper option and it would also allow them to reach the diversity of Canadian symphony orchestras. That's one of their solutions.

The second one, of course, is the fact that they are underfunded, and you've all acknowledged that. But the third one that CBC suggested, with regard to the CBC cutting the classical music to a certain time slot, is that they were looking at encouraging newer audiences.

As you know, the CBC mandate, as they reminded us, is to promote regionalism within Canada and to promote diversity and broaden their audience listenership.

Those are among some of the things they said. How do you respond to those? What are your practical solutions to offer the CBC on this issue--the money, the regionalism, and the fact that they say other symphony orchestras will be able to get a kick at the can?

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Thank you very much, Dr. Fry.

We have three minutes left in this round, in her question, so please be judicious in your answers. You might indicate somehow to me so I can recognize who would wish to give this the first answer.

[Hedy Fry, Liberal, Vancouver Centre, BC]

George.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Okay.

Mr. Laverock.

[George Laverock]

Thank you, Dr. Fry, for those good questions.

To answer the first one, I think it plays right into the hands of what I said earlier about reflection versus initiation. The problem with doing more of what we call “remotes” in the broadcast business, picking up concerts that are already going on, is that no one at the CBC is choosing those artists; nobody is choosing who the soloist will be and what the repertoire will be. So it's a case of the CBC just giving up on its whole control of who they're going to present.

Many of the community orchestras are directed by foreign music directors. The National Arts Centre, where you are at present, has a foreign music director. I did an analysis of the soloists they have, and even though it is almost completely supported by Canadian Heritage, the soloists in the upcoming season are about 65% Canadian. But the soloists with the CBC Radio Orchestra are 100% Canadian, so that's the difference.

With respect to representing different parts of the country, the CBC Radio Orchestra has always gone to great lengths to represent the talent from all over Canada. It has commissioned many, many composers from every part of Canada and has had soloists from every part of Canada.

So those arguments just don't float.

Thank you.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Thank you, Mr. Laverock.

I will go to Vancouver now, and if someone there would like to respond, please do so. Please introduce yourself.

[Colin Miles]

I'm Colin Miles, from the Canadian Music Centre.

The CBC recorded zero performances of the Vancouver Symphony last year, even though they did all kinds of wonderful performances of Canadian music, incredible things, and not a single one was recorded. They are not saving the money from the CBC Radio Orchestra to record other orchestras; they're spending less money on recording. The amount of money they're spending on recording musicians is half what it was in previous years.

I also want to speak to reaching out to different communities. The CBC Radio Orchestra really does reach out. It did a concert of Persian music. It did a concert using Asian instrumentalists. It's done concerts with rappers. It just did a concert in Iqaluit where it performed Inuit music. So it does reach out in those kinds of ways. As I said, it's an organization that fully reflects the mandate of the CBC.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

Thank you very much.

We will now go to Ms. Mourani, from the Bloc.

[Maria Mourani, Bloc, Ahuntsic, QC]

Thank you.

Good afternoon everybody.

I find what you said today very interesting. Mr. Lacroix, whom we have met on May 1 of this year, seemed to say that, with these changes, CBC could broadcast on Radio 2 various genres of music and transform this station into the number one Canadian music source in the country. What do you think of that?

From what I understood from what he said, this decision will allow a varied programming which will draw another kind of audience. In fact, classical music would not be completely eliminated since there would be a daily program during the week, broadcast from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., exclusively devoted to this musical genre. In September, Radio Two will offer new programs on line, among which two will be devoted to classical music. The fact that this is online could draw a younger audience, that might not turn to classical music otherwise.

What do you think of all that? My question is in fact for everybody. Anybody can answer it.

[The Vice-Chair, Liberal, Andy Scott]

I'm looking to Vancouver. Ms. Danielson.