Official Languages Committee on June 22nd, 2006

[Sylvain Lafrance]

I can assure you that I take these criticisms and questions you've raised very seriously. Indeed, when people criticize a public service, I realize that it's because they like it and want more of it. and of course, I can't be against that. In any case, I am very aware of the fact that part of our responsibility is to hear these concerns, because our mission is to serve the public.

Thank you for raising them with us.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

You have 30 seconds left, Mr. Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Just to show you how reasonable I am, I won't ask any more questions. I will give my remaining time to this gentleman over here.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

A 30-second question?

[Raymond Simard, Liberal, Saint Boniface, MB]

In Manitoba, it was decided to cancel the television sportscasts. But the fact is that there are francophones there that like sports, just like other people do. Now they have to watch English channels. Is that something you will look at as part of your repositioning, Mr. Lalande?

[Louis Lalande]

Yes. We are in the process of reorganizing everything related to sports. I find that very positive. Indeed, at Sylvain's instigation, we have decided to restore the sports service and to use it to redefine Radio-Canada's sports mission as a whole. As Sylvain likes to say, we are going to develop a sports strategy that will ensure that everyone can talk about sport, because it's important for Canadians. We have just announced that. I very much hope that there will be improvements.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Thank you very much, Mr. Lalande, Mr. Lafrance and Ms. Leblanc, for those very interesting answers to our questions.

And I want to thank Committee members for asking such interesting questions.

We will take a two-minute break.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

We are ready to resume.

Mr. Rodriguez would like to table a notice of motion.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

This motion relates to our meeting last week, when we were very pleased to meet with the representatives of minority community radio stations. They clearly explained that they are operating with very little funding, and often, despite their lack of funding. Nothing currently requires or encourages the Government of Canada to place ads on community radio stations. It does so from time to time, but it can also decide not to do that. There is no minimum or rule in place in that regard.

And that situation applies not only to minority community radio stations, but to non-profit radio stations as well. These stations really need support. They are doing exceptional work, often with little or no resources, thanks to dedicated volunteers. These media organizations play a very important role in terms of extending the influence of French outside Quebec.

I believe it is important to support them. I asked them whether this motion could be helpful to them, and they said that it most certainly would.

I believe the Bloc Québécois would like to amend the motion, and I fully understand why. The Bloc Québécois would like the government to set aside this amount of money every year, starting this year.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Mr. Rodriguez, please read your motion.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

Ms. Barbot, would you like to do that?

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

I can read the motion. It is to insert, after the words “reserve”...

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Ms. Barbot, the motion has not been read yet.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

I will read the motion without the amendment. Mr. Chairman, the motion reads as follows:

That the Standing Committee on Official Languages recommend to the government that it immediately reserve a minimum of 5.4 per cent of its media buy for non-profit, community-based official language minority media.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Ms. Barbot, would you like to move an amendment?

[Vivian Barbot, Bloc, Papineau, QC]

I suggest that the motion be amended by replacing the word “immediately” with the words “on an annual basis, starting immediately”.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

Let's open this up for debate. Are there any comments or questions?

Mr. Harvey.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

I have already discussed this with Mr. Rodriguez. When the Committee met, they spent an hour and a half explaining that they wanted $500,000. However, the motion refers to a percentage--specifically, 5.4 per cent. I understand the principle, but they also explained that of the $71 million set aside for advertising, only $34 million had been spent. So, is that percentage based on $34 million or $71 million? I don't want to make things unnecessarily complicated. I told Mr. Rodriguez that we agree on the principle. I understand that they want to move quickly on this and do the right thing, but will we really be doing the right thing by moving on this quickly? That's my question.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

There are two parts to your intervention. First of all, you're wondering whether it's preferable to talk about 5.4 per cent or whether we should mention the amount of $500,000 they were asking for initially. My answer would be that a percentage is preferable, because when they were here, I told them that it would difficult to get agreement on this because it's a random amount. There is no way of justifying why it should be $500,000 as opposed to $300,000 or $600,000. They replied that that was quite true. They are every bit in favour of talking about 5.4 per cent, which corresponds to the percentage of Canadians living in a minority situation in Canada. That is basically it.

As for media placements, $70 million was expected to be spent in that area. We hope the federal government will spend what it intended to. We feel it is fair to set aside a percentage of the money allocated, regardless of what is spent on non-profit media.

[Luc Harvey, Conservative, Louis-Hébert, QC]

But what would happen if they got the 5.4 per cent and the government only spent 10 per cent of its expected budget? The situation would be no different from the one we're dealing with now. On the other hand, if they got a set amount, as they requested, they would have the full amount. The government is under no obligation to spend all that money. It is rare for the government not to spend all of it, but it has happened before. It should be noted that 50 per cent of that expenditure is roughly equivalent to $500,000. In my opinion, when they talked about $500,000, that amount was equivalent to the amount of the total budget that would be spent.

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

No, there was nothing scientific about it. I met with them afterwards and asked them why the amount had been set at half a million dollars, and they told me that they thought it was the right amount.

There could have been 8 or 12 departments at $50,000 each, but they calculated that 10 departments would invest $50,000 each. But it could just as well have been 8, 10 or 16 departments. So, I suggested that the distribution be less random and that the amount be calculated based on the spending.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

If 5.4 per cent is the equivalent of $3 million and there is no need for that amount of advertising, what will happen?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

They will use that amount. The 5.4 per cent figure would have represented $500,000 or $600,000 last year. The amount would be distributed to all radio stations, which would mean $30,000 each. That's not much, but if it were $60,000, it would be very helpful.

[The Chair, Conservative, Guy Lauzon]

But what if the government doesn't have any advertising to do?

[Pablo Rodriguez, Liberal, Honoré-Mercier, QC]

It doesn't give money away, but it places 5.4 per cent of its ads in community media. It's neither a gift nor a subsidy; it's a media buy.