Thank you, Madam Chair.
Thank you all for your presentations.
Arts Commons is a perfect example of the kind of cultural centre that could be part of the program we have been tasked with studying.
I want to commend you for your passion, Ms. Franc, because it is not easy to come and give a presentation here. It reminds me of my colleague's enthusiasm when he spoke to us about an antique car show at the beginning of our study. It is true that all of that is also part of culture.
There is no doubt about the importance of the social gathering. At Thanksgiving every year, when I go to the village of Ayer's Cliff, there is a farmers' market on Sunday. It brings the whole community out, and it is a gathering that enhances the quality of life. This is similar to the objectives of the cultural hubs program.
I encourage you to be very creative, however, and to make a significant contribution to our study if you want to be part of this program. That will give us hope that you are committed to the development of culture, the arts or a community.
Of course, if we are talking about a fair where everyone is trading pumpkin pie recipes, that can be very local, but it is of course a cultural activity. But is that also true of an event with rides, a Ferris wheel, and so forth?
If we want to invest in a francophone community, we have to adapt and not just steamroll along with all the equipment from one place to another. Thinking outside the box is important. That is what helps us make progress.
Thank you, Mr. Théberge, for your very charismatic and vibrant presentation. It reminds me of the first times that groups representing cultural interests—ceramic artists or musicians, such as those represented by Music Canada—appeared before the committee.
We have a large francophone community that is spread out across the country and that often struggles a great deal because it is isolated in remote regions. Do you think the cultural hubs program would give Canada's francophone community an additional criterion in order to promote exchanges in French?
For example, would you like the program to have a more mobile dimension or do you see it more from the traveller's point of view? I am thinking of Charlottetown, which has an outstanding cultural centre that has not yet been designated as such, although it certainly is one. There are buds all over the place and sometimes more than buds—in the case of the Arts Commons, which is clearly working well.
In my opinion, the FCCF needs to address one of the fundamental issues for francophone culture to survive and flourish. What are your thoughts?