I said it last week to our senior management team when they met to discuss strategy, and I'll say it again with conviction today: it is fundamental for us as Radio-Canada, as a public broadcaster, to be present throughout Canada. The reason is simple--well-informed citizens are better citizens, so we must inform them of everything that is happening in Canada.
A success story on the news front is RDI. RDI was launched 11 years ago, and today reaches over 2.6 million viewers a week. With RDI, we have succeeded in creating a veritable journalistic strike force in all the main regions of the country, one that we can call on today to launch new programming centred on breaking news.
To provide additional information about this new positioning, allow me to turn the floor over now to Louis Lalande, who, before I asked him to take up the mantle of General Manager for the Regions and develop an overall regional strategy for French services, held the position of General Manager of French Language TV News, where he oversaw development of this new positioning for RDI.