Sure. Well, as you'll remember, the Liberals in the 1990s cut the CBC by about $400 million and there was obviously a pretty significant backlash to that. The heritage minister of the day, Sheila Copps, in response to the push-back they got for cutting the CBC....
As a matter of fact, the parliamentary committee at the time was implicated in the consideration of the impact of those cuts. What was designed and implemented for the first time in 2001...actually, excuse me, 20 years ago. The first year was 2001--sorry--but it was designed prior to that. What was designed and implemented was this $60-million programming fund to the CBC, and that money goes directly to programming. That's always been a sunsetter, though. It's up for renewal every single year in every single budget.
So those who argue about the $60 million.... Keep in mind that the CBC receives $1.134 billion per year. Sixty million dollars is not a small amount of money; it's a lot of money. But within the overall context of the enterprise that is Canada's public broadcaster, the $60 million and the projects it funds, that money can be supported and funded through A-base funding to the CBC. So there's a sort of mythology, I think, built up around that $60 million fund, as though it's untouchable and as though to touch that would have an impact on the CBC.
Very often, as you know, when the CBC has come before this very committee, there has been talk about having only straight A-base funding so that the CBC doesn't have to worry every single year as to whether or not a government is not going to renew the $60 million, whether it's a Liberal government or a Conservative government, and so they could have consistent steady funding for multiple years. That's part of the consideration that we have in working with the CBC about what's in the taxpayers' best interests and also what's in the best interests of the public broadcaster for a consistent funding envelope for multiple years.