Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to welcome all of our witnesses.
I am pleasantly surprised by the commitment shown by Sport Canada and Canadian Heritage to support indigenous participation in sport. In my opinion, this starts with local infrastructure in communities and on reserves.
Before speaking to the witnesses, I would like to underscore the fact that this is the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. We make collegial, in camera decisions about the subjects we study. This allows my New Democratic colleague and I to suggest topics. However, the government has a majority. Even if the committee is independent from the government, some of its members are a part of that government, and as such they make the decisions regarding the topics we study.
I'd like to express a reservation. It would seem much more appropriate to me that the Standing Committee on Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, of which I have been a member, conduct this study, as its subject matter goes far beyond the scope of the assistance Canadian Heritage provides to indigenous people. Having visited several indigenous communities, I have seen the community infrastructures that really allow indigenous people to develop their skills.
I'd like to mention some facts for the benefit of those who are listening to us and may have some questions about the mandate of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.
I'm thinking here of Guy Fournier of the Journal de Québec, who is interested in developments in the media. I'm also thinking of the artists who are seeing their sources of income collapse, and of the fact that Facebook is celebrating its 15th anniversary. I note that the Canada Media Fund, whose mandate is to support our culture, is seeing its revenue decrease considerably because the income it receives from cable distributors is declining, and because Internet service providers are not covered by the law. The news is replete with issues of burning concern with respect to the support of our cultural industry and our heritage. I'm also thinking of the repairs to the Quebec Citadel, which we had to storm the barricades for given the government's inaction, so as to ensure that original stone would be used for this heritage building. Canadians are entitled to expect that the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage will examine these matters.
We have just seen the government table a bill to amend the Income Tax Act, and people are wondering why the government suddenly wants to subsidize the media, although the law gives us the means to act.