Thank you for your question, Mr. Champoux.
In the latest amendments to the act, the CRTC stopped requiring cable companies in metropolitan areas to invest in community television and redirected them to local media outlets. In my opinion, this makes no sense because it means taking money away from some organizations and people who were doing local news and redirecting it to other local news. It's not effective in increasing the amount of local news across the country, and it doesn't make sense to take money from one area and put it somewhere else. We have demonstrated that we are much more effective and efficient at producing local news.
Right now, there is a crisis in the media, especially in local media. The Department of Canadian Heritage has recognized this by launching its local journalism initiative, in which we are participating. This is a very good first step. However, there needs to be a clear definition of what community media are and what they do. The lack of such a definition is what has allowed the CRTC to amend the act, with an extremely significant negative impact.