Thank you, Mr. Chair.
It is important to put the entire bill in context. I see this amendment as an attempt by the Conservatives to protect journalistic sources in a way. This is an issue that has been raised several times by various groups. It was mainly raised by professionals working in the field, sometimes by those from the CBC, but not exclusively by them.
In this brief comment, I also want to provide some context for this bill, which concerns access to information. It does not address just any federal government organization but rather one organization in particular, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It has a long history as well as a unique mandate and role in the television, artistic and news landscape. I think it is important to bear that in mind to ensure that the unique mandate and special role of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are preserved for decades to come.
This institution, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, has made a contribution to Canada's identity and to our cultural life. That contribution has been greatly appreciated by all Quebeckers and Canadians. Things have been done at the CBC that have never been done elsewhere and that could not have been done elsewhere. It is therefore a precious jewel.
On this point, it is worth citing the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec on the values that must be defended when talking about CBC/Radio-Canada.
Note that the corporation's mandate includes specific items such as local and regional coverage, which is much more intensive and greatly appreciated by communities not generally covered by the major private networks. This makes it possible to tell stories about all the provinces and regions of the country. These are stories that have shaped our collective imagination both in Quebec and elsewhere in Canada. For adults, those stories were told through documentaries, news reports and investigations and, for children, through cartoons that stimulated our children's imaginations on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
With respect to the values that should be defended, I refer to the brief submitted to us by the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec, which states, with respect to the relevance of a public broadcaster:
The Standing Committee was not given the mandate to consider the appropriateness and the pertinence of a public broadcaster in Canada. Parliament has decided on this issue decades ago when it launched the CBC. Yet, it is the subtext to C-461, as if there was an elephant in the room. The FPJQ has always defended the existence of a strong public broadcaster as an irreplaceable vector of public interest information. The Federation opposes any measure that would diminish this role.
That is obviously an opinion that the New Democratic Party shares.
The FPJQ continues as follows:
The mainstream media are facing, worldwide, economic difficulties that affect their ability to inform the public in a professional manner. ...we must be careful not to weaken one of the most important news organizations in the country, which has received many prestigious awards for the quality of its information.
The second value that, according to the federation's presentation, must be defended is the independence of the CBC as a public broadcaster. This is the independence that we have discussed, the interpretation of which, in accordance with the terms of the bill before us, we feel is not very clear. The FPJQ states:
It can be difficult to accept the idea that an organization funded largely by public funds should not be held fully accountable, as any other Crown corporation. Still, it is a reality that we must accept since the CBC operates in a very special and unique field, information and journalism.
To digress briefly, it is not just information that must be considered, but also programming. However, I will come back to that later.
The FPJQ's presentation continues:
In this field, the value of a media company, regardless of its structure of property, is its independence from all the powers in place. In the CBC's case, we must especially protect and warrant its independence from the various governments that come and go at the helm of the State. "The status of the broadcaster is a defining feature of the CBC and helps to distinguish it from other Crown corporations. It has the status of a diffuser, and as such, it is in charge of its editorial decisions and it takes full responsibility for them, to the exclusion of executive power of the State." The Broadcasting Act explicitly stipulates in article 46, paragraph 5: "The Corporation shall, in the pursuit of its objects and in the exercise of its powers, enjoy freedom of expression and journalistic, creative and programming independence."
One cannot freely report if one is not independent. And if one does not freely inform, one is not in the news business but in the realm of promotion, publicity or worse, propaganda. The free flow of information and the freedom to report it is a feature of the CBC, unlike some of its counterparts in authoritarian regimes, where state-sponsored information is censored and controlled. The FPJQ intervened several times in its some 40 years of activity to protect the CBC's independence against the threats made by successive governments.
This is obviously a value that is dear to us. I thought it was important to recall the position of the Fédération professionnelle des journalistes du Québec on this point.
It is important to note that the CBC contributes in a way to the protection of linguistic minorities. I am mainly thinking of the coverage that francophones outside Quebec obtain through RDI and local Radio-Canada programming. That would probably not be the case if free market forces alone gave free rein—