I will start. We will split the speech.
Thank you, Madam Chair.
Members of the committee, my name is Benoît Chartier. I am the chair of the board of Hebdos Québec. I am joined by our general manager, Sylvain Poisson.
We represent more than 30 owners of independent weeklies, for a total of some 80 weeklies in the province of Quebec. Each of these print media outlets has an online platform. Hebdos Québec represents some 200 journalists who work for all the weeklies in Quebec, and we speak on their behalf.
For my part, I own five weeklies and websites, including the oldest French-language publication in the Americas, Le Courrier de Saint‑Hyacinthe, which is celebrating its 170th anniversary this year. I am the third generation with this company.
Without exception, our respective newsrooms, which, as I said, employ some 200 journalists, create or produce original local or regional content for each of our news products.
We distribute some 10.3 million copies per year throughout our territory, while our digital platforms have more than 20 million page views per month and close to 15 million unique visitors per month.
I would point out that Hebdos Québec is marking its 90th anniversary this year, and the greatest gift would be to see Bill C‑18, which is under consideration today, passed into law as soon as possible.
The press is a bulwark of democracy. It has a duty to the public, namely, to provide quality information supported by rigorous journalism. The French-language weekly press in Quebec has also played a fundamental role in delivering news to the heart of many local communities, often in regions without any other local or regional media. In this regard, we can say that a weakened press that is under pressure to abandon its mission and in danger of disappearing after decades of work poses a serious threat to our democracy.
For their part, the weeklies have been part of the economic and cultural landscape for over a century. They are essential to the democratic vitality of each region. Away from major urban centres, they are often alone in playing that role, and they are as relevant as they were before the advent of social media.
Local and regional weeklies have a crucial role to play in countering the unfettered circulation of social media content that is stripped of journalistic practices and ethics.
Already seriously weakened by the major crisis of the media, we have suffered from the lengthy pandemic, which has included the closure of businesses, significant drops in advertising revenues, and problems with staffing, operational restructuring and newsrooms.
I would like to express my most sincere thanks to the Government of Canada for its support and valuable assistance in these circumstances, which have been difficult both economically and personally.
Mr. Poisson, I will hand it over to you to finish the presentation.