Thank you for the invitation to talk to you today. With us today are Stéphane Cardin, vice-president of industry and public affairs, and Sandra Collins, vice-president of finance and administration. I'm going to give you just a bit of an overview. Then Stéphane will talk about the convergent stream, and Sandra will speak to some of the issues surrounding broadcaster corporate groups and our revenue streams at the fund.
Last March, the Ministry of Canadian Heritage provided a new mandate for what was the Canadian Television Fund. It incorporated the programming of the Canada New Media Fund, which was previously administrated by Telefilm. The new mandate champions the creation and promotion of successful, innovative Canadian content and software applications for current and emerging digital platforms through financial support and industry research.
In 2009-10, we provided just over $327 million for the creation of Canadian content. Through these investments, the CMF contributes to the Canadian digital economic strategy. We just completed an annual process in which we undertook a formal dialogue with our industry stakeholders across the country, from Saint John to Iqaluit to Victoria and everywhere in between. This year we visited 23 Canadian towns and cities, coast to coast to coast, and met over 1,000 industry representatives. This process provides us with an opportunity to hear the concerns and observations of the industry and helps inform our process of developing the guidelines every year.
Stéphane will take you through the successes and the convergent stream.
Stéphane.