Canadian Heritage Committee on May 19th, 2016

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

I have one more question.

With regard to pooling resources, you've partnered with Global and you've partnered with CTV to cut costs. Just talk about that, because there has been resentment in the past about private versus public, but at least you're now in the same room talking. Some of the pooling has worked; some hasn't.

[Jennifer McGuire]

News organizations for a long time have pooled around certain events to save costs. Sometimes it's story-based and you negotiate a pool around the story. Certainly, CBC, like other broadcasters, subscribes to syndicated services to augment our ability to cover wherever we need to be, wherever news breaks.

We've also entered into partnerships with some of the new media companies around certain pieces of coverage and content, and we're open to any conversation. I think that, for all of us, the idea is to bring value to our journalism and spend our money where we can differentiate. If we're all going to be covering a news conference in essentially the same way, why would we do it three times? Why not share what is going to be the same base clip content for everybody?

[Kevin Waugh, Conservative, Saskatoon—Grasswood, SK]

Well, you would be a little different, wouldn't you? You'd get the video, but you'd still need the reporter.

[Michel Cormier]

Our last major co-operative effort with our competitor TVA was on the funeral of René Angélil, Céline Dion's husband. It was a bit unusual, given that we are talking here about quite a competitive television environment. However, we pool resources for major political events, whether it be covering the leaders' debates or election campaigns, particularly during the tours of the political leaders. However, it is practically limited to those aspects.

Our activities are quite different when it comes to news. We have our national and international mandate, whereas TVA targets a Quebec audience. Our editorial priorities are also quite different. I think that partly explains why we do not co-operate very often. However, whenever possible and when it works for both networks to pool resources, we co-operate. For national events, we also join the pool of the CBC and the Global Network.

[Jennifer McGuire]

We also partner with newspapers, particularly around investigative projects. When CBC did the investigation into the Boy Scouts, that was with the Los Angeles Times. We've done investigations with the Toronto Star certainly, around the Panama papers, as you've heard.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Larry Maguire]

Okay, thank you.

I'm going to Mr. Samson for seven minutes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I quite agree with Mr. Waugh about the cuts. CBC/Radio-Canada has had a diminished presence in the past few years, and that has left a gap, particularly in the rural areas. Listening to Mr. Waugh, I thought it was unfortunate that he was not part of the previous Conservative government. He definitely could have tried to convince it not to make those cuts. They did not leave much for the regions. There is virtually no CBC/Radio-Canada news in the rural and local communities.

In addition, my colleagues in Nova Scotia noted on several occasions during the last election campaign, and even on election night, that the Radio-Canada people pronounced my name in English. Several emails were sent to Radio-Canada that evening to point out that my name should be pronounced in French. It was a bit disappointing that they had to do that.

People from my community who support me noted that I was the only Acadian candidate to run in Nova Scotia. We are talking here about 11 ridings in which there were at least three candidates in each one, so at least 33 people. I was the only Acadian, but no one there was aware of the fact. Consequently, no comments were made on the subject, and, in addition, my name was mispronounced.

My colleagues claim that Radio-Canada slipped up on that occasion. I am not the one who said so.

[Michel Cormier]

I apologize if we mispronounced your name. I was familiar with it since I am from Moncton. The Nova Scotia Samsons are well-known. If we did not talk about you that much, perhaps it was because you were so successful that all the Atlantic provinces went red before the election started. We focused less on the details of the provincial races.

All joking aside, Mr. Dubé can tell you about local coverage, but, as regards the network, I do not think regional coverage should be summarized on the 10 o'clock newscast. That is often the problem.

With RDI, we are in the Atlantic region and Nova Scotia every day. We cover the event of the day. Some of our people are on live all day providing that coverage. I invite you to check that out. We also invested a lot in the region. At the time, we even had a bureau in Cape Breton. We kept it up for a few years but shut it down in the wake of the cuts. We wanted the most significant communities in Nova Scotia, which are not all in St. Mary's Bay or Halifax, to be represented.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you for your comments.

I have a second question for you.

What percentage of the new investments that the government has announced and that my colleagues have mentioned will be directly allocated to local news, including news intended for official language minority communities?

[Marco Dubé]

Thank you for your question.

As I said earlier, approximately $3 million will be reinvested in regional services across the country this year. With regard to news for minority communities, we have 13 television stations outside Montreal, seven of which are located outside Quebec. We are obviously talking about the Moncton station here, but also about our entire presence in eastern Canada.

This funding will be invested in the three priorities that I mentioned earlier and that I will not repeat. Most of that funding will definitely be invested first and foremost in digital content production. That is what people increasingly want. If the next generations, your children and grandchildren, develop a relationship with Radio-Canada, it will be via their phones, tablets, and computers. It is a historic occasion for us to have additional funding available to offer services. In the current conditions, we will definitely be focusing our efforts on digital content production and our connection with the communities via mobile devices in the digital space.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I would like to add—

[Michel Cormier]

We are developing a new national coverage strategy. We no longer merely want to show what is going on in your village or what mainly interests the people in your town or region. We want to see, for example, how people in your community are experiencing issues such as physician-assisted dying. How are you experiencing these major issues? That enriches the national dialogue on these major questions. We are showing how people in various regions experience the same problems. This is very enriching for the majority audience in Quebec. We get very positive feedback every time we do it.

So there are two aspects to our way of talking about Nova Scotia, for example. The first is local coverage. It is more mobile and directly related to local issues at every moment of the day. The second is a willingness to cover national news based on the way the major issues affect the regions.

I hope that will start showing up on the screen within the next few months.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

In response to the question my colleague asked earlier about the number of women in high-level or executive positions, Ms. McGuire explained that it was 7 out of 13 in English services. How many are there in the French services?

[Michel Cormier]

I think I will answer that question.

It is about half and half on the vice-president's management committee. As for the overall figures for the corporation, it is approximately 46% or 47%. It is 47.5% for senior executives and 47.6% for employees as a whole. We have almost achieved equality, but we of course have to monitor the situation.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you.

I have one final question for you.

In light of this new investment, what is your plan for regions that do not always have access to television, the Internet, or other media? That may include Newfoundland and Labrador, the north, and all the regions.

[Marco Dubé]

Could you clarify your question? Are you referring to what we were discussing earlier? Are you talking about Internet access in general or the services we provide?

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Some places in Canada still do not have access to CBC/Radio-Canada services, whether it be on television, radio, the Internet, or other technology platforms.

[Marco Dubé]

Generally speaking, everyone who has Internet access has access to all CBC/Radio-Canada services. They are in a region that we serve since we serve all regions across the country. Consequently, it is hard for me to be any more specific than that. I think the major issue is obviously Canadians' access to broadband Internet. That is obviously not our responsibility.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

We will resolve that.

[Marco Dubé]

We are pleased to hear that.

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Larry Maguire]

Thank you.

We'll go to Mr. Nantel, for a final question.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

How much time do I have, Mr. Chair?

[The Vice-Chair, Conservative, Larry Maguire]

You have seven minutes.

[Pierre Nantel, NDP, Longueuil—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Seven minutes, that's perfect.

As I said a little earlier, I watch and listen to CBC/Radio-Canada a lot, and many people in my family, in Montreal, Quebec, and across Canada watch and listen to it as well. You must have phenomenal ratings among certain groups. Anyone who watches and listens to CBC/Radio-Canada does it a lot.

The changes resulting from the recent cuts were striking for regular listeners. In the evening, for example, they might see a feature on an illegal landfill site and then hear the audio from the same piece on the news the next day. That is irritating for someone who normally has the opportunity to hear different features on other subjects or on the same subject but from a different angle.

Perhaps those savings were necessary. An effort was very obviously made. I wanted to congratulate you because I think you took a pragmatic approach and managed the situation well. True, it is not as pleasant as it was, but in some instances, having two reporters reporting two similar stories at the same time was a luxury.

On the other hand, one might have doubts about the efficiency of that arrangement. Everyone knows I am not giving up on CBC/Radio-Canada's current board of directors. However, this morning I learned that the Radio-Canada news centre, which, unless I am mistaken, was established no more than 15 or 20 years ago, may be demolished and moved elsewhere.

Do you think that is the best possible use of the funding? There is new funding now, and that is typical. If I buy a big box of cookies, I will eat more of them. If we give you this money, which you really needed to carry out your mandate, do you not think we should be completely informed about the various development plans for the site? The most recent parts of the building will probably be demolished or repurposed—perhaps to accommodate two or three convenience stores—instead of being a news centre, which, unless I am mistaken, cost approximately $40 million.

[Michel Cormier]

I am not going to comment on projects that also involve the private sector. That is the subject of some quite specific negotiations. All we can say is that the plan for a new home for Radio-Canada was also made necessary by certain technological changes. That decision was based on a whole set of factors. I will not go back over them because I would not want to discuss elements that are being negotiated. We do not yet know all the intended purposes of projects submitted for certain parts of the building.