I will talk about the mandate first and then about the money.
Radio Canada's mandate is not changing, but, like media mandates everywhere, it is evolving. Look at the large international media outlets. When, for example, Radio Canada International goes on the air in French-speaking Africa or anywhere else in the world, we are up against the major international players like the BBC, Voice of America or Radio France Internationale. They have much greater resources and are able to offer complete and well-directed news services. RCI is much smaller, so it has to set itself apart from its competition.
Still from the standpoint of the democratic and cultural values that we want to espouse, we decide that RCI must be a tool that broadcasts Canadian democratic and cultural values overseas. Do we do that in newscasts only, or do we also do it with cultural shows about Canada of a more general and social nature? This question of programming is an interesting one.
Yes, there has been an evolution. The mandate has not changed, but it does adjust: if we really want to get democratic and cultural values out there, we have other ways to do it than just by news bulletins. The news produced by CBC in English and Radio-Canada in French is generally good, and, broadly speaking, covers what is going on in Canada.
Maybe there has been a shift towards programming whose content deals more with culture and society than information, but that seems to me to be simply a process of matching RCI's personality to the present reality of international broadcasting.
Is there less programming than previously? It is certainly true that the broadcasting technology used by the major international broadcasters has changed a lot. Short wave, for example, is much less effective in some markets today than the web, or programs on FM.
Radio Canada International is a multimedia outlet today, in my opinion. If you go on the RCI site, you will find a lot of video and audio. RCI has become a production unit that is quite specialized in world migration and immigration issues. This is because Canada is an important country that must be an example to the world in those matters. I see that as a major role.
The essence of RCI's mandate has not changed.
As to the finances, RCI has about $15 million that it can call on. Whether its communications money comes from a communications team, whether Radio Canada International is written on the cheque or whether the money comes from a communications team with Radio Canada written on their cheques, honestly, it makes little difference. I think that it is more effective to use a large team of communications specialists or a large team of financial people and include RCI in our structures, as we have done for many of our operations at the corporation, especially since Robert arrived. I just see it as good old efficient management and basic common sense.