Yes, thank you.
People seem to give considerable weight to public perceptions of any government assistance provided to news organizations or newsrooms.
I work at Le Quotidien, a newspaper that's part of Groupe Capitales Médias, in Chicoutimi. We received $10 million in funding from Investissement Québec to help the company get through the crisis.
In Quebec, Pierre Karl Péladeau was outraged by the situation. However, I can tell you that not a single one of the 200 journalists at Groupe Capitales Médias, who are located in six regions of Quebec, has received an email questioning the group's credibility or claiming that it had been bought by the government. No issues were raised in this area. Journalists have been fighting for years for press freedom and quality information. We're not going to let the government guide our work.
The Government of Quebec has implemented a general program for the digital transition. The federal bill is based on the criteria set out in the Quebec program. No one has made a public fuss and said that the program is about helping the media.
I challenge everyone to look back at the latest election campaign in Quebec. I encourage you to check whether journalists from Quebec newspapers, such as La Presse or Groupe Capitales Médias newspapers, influenced the political coverage of the Couillard government. There was no influence. These people were treated like all the members of other political parties.
In Quebec, Groupe Capitales Médias ended up being singled out by Mr. Péladeau. In fact, Mr. Péladeau is taking legal action against the Government of Quebec over the assistance provided to us. In any case, as far as we're concerned, we could send you the contents of all the inboxes of our 200 journalists. You wouldn't find a single email indicating that the public is outraged by this assistance. It's time to stop inventing things that don't exist in the real world.