Evidence of meeting #29 for Official Languages in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was organizations.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:30 a.m.
Conservative
10:30 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I will begin by asking a question. I do not know if I will have enough time to ask two.
Mr. Grenier, when we met in Sudbury, you talked about a joint project with the Collège Boréal. Mr. Hubert from the Collège Boréal told us just how effective the program was as far as the Le Voyageur paper was concerned. Newspapers—I don't know if yours is a daily or a weekly—have an agreement with the college to get young francophones to read this paper.
Can you tell us more about this issue? What can you recommend we do for other francophone communities in Canada?
10:30 a.m.
Publisher and Editorial Writer, Journal Le Voyageur
The Collège Boréal is involved with the program, but it also involves the two school boards, the public one and the Catholic one, in our area. This, in fact, is why we have such a high number of subscriptions. We have one of the highest subscription rates in Canada outside Quebec.
The only problem with this program is that the school boards and colleges have to pay for the subscriptions. I would like to give the paper away, but things just don't work that way. In any case, the Publications Assistance Program, which was referred to earlier, does not provide financial support if the paper is given away for free. So we are stuck between a rock and a hard place and therefore must sell it.
A subscription costs $42. We charge the Collège Boréal $12. Therefore, the college receives a 30$ subsidy per subscription. I don't mind doing this for the greater good. I feel if I increase the number of subscriptions, I might increase my advertising revenues. It's a big risk, there are no guarantees, but business is never a sure thing. The big problem in all of this is that the Collège Boréal does not have anymore money than we do. The same holds true for the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, which buys $6,000 worth of advertising per year, but pays us only about $600. We provide the balance for free. Thanks to us, community organizations are able to survive up to a certain point. However, if we cannot bring on board young people today who often only read this newspaper, which is their only source of French at home...
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Mr. Grenier, based on what you say, you are subsidizing minorities to a greater extent than does the federal government. Perhaps you should exchange your role under section 41 of Part VII of the Official Languages Act.
Mr. Bélanger, can you tell us what percentage of the population your community represents? Are francophones in a majority or minority situation? What part of Ontario does your region cover? Is it only Timmins?
10:35 a.m.
Chairman of the Board, Alliance de la francophonie de Timmins
We represent 41% of the population of Timmins, and we represent about 54% of the population of the service district. We are therefore the majority in the service district, but we are a minority in the town itself.
10:35 a.m.
NDP
Yvon Godin NDP Acadie—Bathurst, NB
Thank you.
Mr. Grenier, let's come back to the newspaper, which is something I am interested in. I think this is a great initiative on your part, and all the more so because you charge $12 per subscription for college students, whereas it would normally go for $42.
What do the people from the college think of this? What types of results has this initiative yielded?
10:35 a.m.
Publisher and Editorial Writer, Journal Le Voyageur
You know as well as I do that francophones outside Quebec are not complainers. They also do not tend to be effusive in their compliments. These are people who don't talk a lot. However, when we happen to meet one, two or three students, they tell us that they are very pleased to have our paper. Some even say that they are glad to be at the Collège Boréal, in part for that reason. But there are other reasons, of course. This is the type of result we get.
Some professors also use the newspaper in class. We even prepared a teaching document focused on how to read the paper. Professors have given us very positive feedback on that. Let's hope that in the long term it will encourage young people to maintain their French.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Guy Lauzon
Mr. Grenier, that concludes our meeting. I would like to thank all of our witnesses, as well as the members. We will continue our deliberations in camera.
Thank you.
[The meeting continues in camera.]