Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would first like to reassure my colleague Mr. Serré. The Bloc Québécois is quite vehement on this point. When we defend Radio-Canada, its French services, and francophone and Quebec culture, and we dig our heels in when we hear about the possibility of the CBC's influence over Radio-Canada expanding, obviously we are protecting Quebeckers. However, by default and the ripple effect, all francophones in Canada also benefit from the existence of a healthy, high-quality public broadcaster.
I wanted to clarify that, because it is a very important detail in the approach taken by the Bloc Québécois that does not seem to be very much appreciated by the Liberal government right now. Our vehemence is equalled only by our desire to protect our public broadcaster, which is the main vehicle of our culture in Quebec and Canada.
Ms. Tait, as you reiterated earlier, we cannot slash the CBC's budget without it having consequences for the French services. You have said that in the past, and it is clear to us. So if a Conservative government starts slashing the CBC's budget, it will necessarily have an effect on the French services.
If budget cuts were imposed on the CBC in proportion to its share of the public broadcaster's budget, would money automatically be drawn from Radio-Canada's share of the budget, so the CBC could survive, or would you allow the CBC to die out by eliminating a lot of services in order to preserve the viability of the French services?