Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I want to thank all three of you for returning to our table.
Mr. Rabinovitch, thank you for your many years of service to our public broadcaster. I suspect this will not be the last time you appear before this committee. We've had one past president of CBC appear before us during this mandate review. This may fall upon your shoulders some day, as well.
I did note that you made a number of very bold statements in your opening comments. Quite frankly, I'm encouraged by those. You're not a shrinking violet. You've clearly set out some of the financial challenges that CBC faces. You've also outlined what you believe are the minimum requirements to address the needs of the public broadcaster.
I also want to assure you that we are going to be hearing testimony from organizations like BBC, PBS, and perhaps the Australian public broadcaster, so we haven't closed that door yet.
In terms of the bold statements you made, it intrigued me that you actually made it clear that you cannot succeed if audiences do not watch or listen to your programs. You even made it in bold: “...but one cannot have a public broadcaster without a public.” That's the reality. What we do want is a broad audience for the programs we deliver. We can't be elitist. We have to focus in on serving the public that actually pays for the public broadcaster.
You also made a strong statement about micromanagement. Mr. Siksay raised that, and I believe Mr. Scarpaleggia did as well. Without getting into the details of what has been discussed in camera, I think it's fair to say that we've had some discussion about the issue of micromanagement, although I believe there's a consensus that we not get into micromanagement; we may have different definitions of what it means.
My question has to do with one issue that can perhaps be micromanaged to the detriment of CBC. That's the whole issue of Canadian programming. How much of it is there going to be? When do we deliver it? Do you see there is a role for this committee, or the government, to interfere by providing you with directives as to how that Canadian programming should be delivered, apart from the requirements of the CRTC imposed on you under your licencing requirements?