Thank you, Mr. Chairman. The three minutes will go by quickly.
I'll be frank with you. I've been listening to what the government members have been saying. They seem to be trying to say that they haven't made any cuts and that they have done nothing but good things. Their behaviour reminds me think of an ostrich with its head in the sand to avoid seeing the facts around them, when in fact there were cuts of $1.1 billion not so long ago. It had a direct impact on the official language community.
Later, after we have finished with the testimony, you will be voting on a motion that I presented to ask the government to reinstate the Publications Assistance Program. That will have an impact on your communities.
Looking at the situation, we find that we also previously voted on a motion asking the government to give 5.4% of the advertising budget to community radio stations. We have not yet heard anything about this, know absolutely nothing, and the government has not moved.
All three of you talked about culture. In this connection, the community radio stations are not community radio stations, but rather radio stations run by the community.
Earlier, Ms. Brisebois, you were saying something about programming mandates. Among other things, the community radio stations have this mandate of including culture-related components in their programming, in order to provide our official language communities with tools to help them develop. However, we are not even able to obtain from the Conservative federal government the 5.4% of the advertising funds to be able to help the community radio stations provide programming as well.
At the end of the line, how can the community radio stations and your organizations fulfil their mandate if student projects and grants are cut? What are you going to use in the end?
If the government slashes and does not provide the funds needed, what will happen to your organizations in the short or medium term? Who will be there to offer community activities?