I would like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk to you about the concerns of the Association de la presse francophone, as well as its views on the vitality of communities and the Action Plan for Official Languages.
The Association de la presse francophone is made up of weekly and by-monthly francophone newspapers in minority situations from across Canada, with the exception of Quebec, obviously.
Our mandate is to promote the francophone print media across Canada, defend its interests and ensure its development.
I will begin by talking to you about our position on the vitality of communities. Francophone newspapers are an indicator of that vitality. When there is not a single francophone newspaper in a given region, that is not a sign of community vitality, but when an area has a number of francophone newspapers, that is a good indicator of the community's francophone and economic vitality.
Newspapers are also a source of vitality for those communities. Communities without newspapers have a much harder time ensuring social cohesion and carrying out development projects, whether they be social, economic, political or educational, if there are no other adequate means of communication. We also benefit. Evidently, a community whose population is decreasing or whose economy is in trouble will have difficulty supporting a newspaper or radio station. The media need community support.
With regard to the action plan, I can tell you that the addition of measures in the areas of health, justice, immigration and literacy has contributed to the vitality of those communities and, by extension, our newspapers. But I cannot quantify the economic spinoffs or the articles that these measures have produced. It is very difficult to assess the exact impact of the action plan on our newspapers.
We have noted, however, that there is almost no mention of communications in the action plan. The entire document contains only one or two very brief references in this respect. We obviously find that to be a major shortcoming, given the role communications play in today's world.
We are talking about communities that have access to a newspaper or radio broadcasting. We live in a world with an enormous number of media outlets. We have to compete and fight assimilation. The fact that people can watch 70, 100 or even 200 English-language television stations, and have access to over 100 English magazines at the convenience store amounts to major competition for us. Among other things, it is very difficult to provide our young people with content that will interest them and stimulate them enough to continue living in French. We believe that the action plan comes up short in this respect.
Another shortcoming of the plan is that people were not consulted prior to its drafting. I attend meetings where organizations assess the plan. It is very difficult for me to know what has been done with regard to the plan.
The francophone public has no idea of the development efforts made in their community. There might have been some concern about not properly spending funds, but no communications were established with the public. The money would not necessarily have been wasted. I am talking about ordinary people who are not part of an organization that discusses these matters on a daily basis.
Our organization is part of the family of francophone organizations. Like the Fédération des communautés francophones et acadienne, we believe that the allocation of funds to national and provincial francophone organizations does not take into account inflation and the increasing number of issues we have to work on.
To respond in an effective and realistic fashion, we need more substantial funding, not on a project basis, but to support the basic infrastructure in the various community sectors. The number of sectors has increased, but we still only have two or three people working on all the standing committees, etc. At a certain point, we will no longer be able to keep up.
I will talk about specific measures that we could take to assist the francophone press and the overall communications sector. We are currently concerned about the fact that Canada Post is withdrawing its financial contribution from the Publications Assistance Program. That amounts to a 25 % loss in mail delivery assistance. We have yet to determine the consequences of that withdrawal for our newspapers, but that is something we are concerned about.
There is also a series of publishing support programs in the Canada Magazine Fund. For all intents and purposes, there is little or no French-language magazine industry outside Quebec. In order to respect the Official Languages Act and the amendment that was adopted making Part VII enforceable, the fund needs to be adapted to the reality of our communities and the print media we can develop has to be supported, rather than requiring that unrealistic criteria be met, such as publishing a given number of copies of a glossy magazine.
Staff training and retention and the management of advertising are two other concerns we have. The level of federal government advertising is not what it was prior to the advertising moratorium. Things have improved, but the level is still far below what it used to be.
Thank you for your attention.