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...