I would respectfully suggest that it's pretty significantly more complex than meets the eye--not this motion, but this notion the CRTC has come forward with, with respect to splitting. I'll give three or four examples of the reason it's complex. What is the difference between Corner Gas and Little Mosque on the Prairie? Let's think about it for a second. What is the difference?
I apologize to my friends from Quebec, because this is mainstream English broadcasting I am speaking about.
Both are looking for a large popular audience. Neither is pandering to try to get them. We could say that maybe Corner Gas might be trying a little bit harder than Little Mosque on the Prairie, but nonetheless Little Mosque on the Prairie does all the little video tricks that are done in order to attract loyal audiences over a long period of time. The complexity is whetherLittle Mosque on the Prairie should be funded solely out of public money through the CBC and Corner Gas should be funded privately.
Jim Shaw was complaining about the fact that he didn't have any control or influence over the choice of programming that was going to be created, which was supposed to be attracting a larger audience. This is a complication. Furthermore, we are losing sight of TVO, TFO, SCN, and Knowledge Network. We're losing sight of those networks, I suggest, because those networks need the flexibility to be able to tap into either of those two. The one they will tap into is the public money as opposed to the private money. I can't imagine that the BDUs are going to say this is great and that their boards are going to be approving things for these.
I'm just saying that it is so complex that I find myself in complete agreement with my friend Mr. Coderre. I have never spoken to the minister about this, by the way, but I'm guessing that she and her officials are probably trying to work through all of the unintended consequences, all of the unknowns relative to this splitting. Then we come along and--no disrespect--we have a very simple suggestion saying that into this mix we're also going to throw this 37%.