I think that was the theory behind what the CBC was doing. Theoretically, they're not driven by commercial concerns--and ratings. But of course, they are.
If you go to India, you'll see indigenous programs, and the production values are pretty low. But the audience is huge, because they can't see themselves watching Friends, which is there too. So if they want to see themselves, they're willing to put up with the lower production values.
But in Canada we're spoiled. We see CSI and we just turn the dial and we see a Canadian show. If our product can't compete on a production-level basis, it's very difficult to capture an audience that has the clicker in their hands.
Personally, I would love to see a channel that shows only Canadian drama and is funded by the taxpayer. I don't know if the taxpayers would be interested unless we could show that the drama speaks to them.
Part of our problem is that we've created at least a generation or more that has grown up on American and Hollywood programming. They can project themselves into a show like Friends and think they're seeing themselves, whereas if you show them a story that's set in our country, it's somehow not as cool.
So we have a lot of work to do that way. I think that idea would be marvellous, and sure, let's throw that into the wish list.