Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank you all for coming; you make some very important points. However, I hear from three of the presenters that these changes are in fact a good thing because they allow a number of young people who are trying folk and jazz and other genres of music to perform, to get their chance in the sun. I hear from classical music aficionados that they needed that to help them get their place in the sun.
My question, therefore, is this. Everyone says that CBC cannot be all things to all people, and yet I hear everyone wanting CBC to be all things to all people. Your suggestion that CBC be funded appropriately gets a huge round of applause from me, because CBC has been bled dry over the last few years so that it isn't really able to do the things it needs to do.
However, you've talked a little bit about classical music. One of the presenters at the last meeting we had said in a presentation: “I think we have to define classical music.” It would be interesting to see if any one of you can define classical music. Is classical music merely western European classical music? Does it include Chinese classical music, Indian classical music, African classical music? Is jazz now old enough to be seen as a classical music? I'd like to hear that from you.
Is it just the time that you have the slot, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., that is of concern? If that slot changed and rotated, so that three times a week it was from 4 to 6 in the afternoon, when people are driving home, would that make a difference?
If CBC only has Radio 2 as an FM station to be able to reach everyone, how do you define culture in Canada, when Canada's cultural mix is changing so much and the diversity of culture means that we have people from every corner of the world?
I want to ask the question so that you can explain how CBC could do the things you think it should: representing the cultural diversity, doing classical, doing all the other things, and giving everyone a break. It seems like a tall order for the CBC.