Official Languages Committee on May 14th, 2009

[Sylvain Lafrance]

It's difficult, because we don't have the rights, so we don't have to ask the question—unless there's a deal; then we'll work it through.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

So you don't know what you would like to achieve?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

We know what we would like to achieve. We have to make sure that whatever deal they show up with for us, there is no cost to the public broadcaster.

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

Yes, so I'm asking, what is the cost to you?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Are they going to give us 50 hours, 20 hours, three events? Are they going to allow us to do the final game of hockey, or—

[Pierre Lemieux, Conservative, Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, ON]

I'm asking, based on what you would like to achieve.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Well, it's not up to us. We're not playing defence here, sir, with the greatest respect.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Mr. Lemieux.

I would like to thank our witnesses for agreeing to meet with us this morning. We were very pleased that you could attend and we appreciate your answers.

Mr. Petit, do you have a point of order?

[Daniel Petit, Conservative, Charlesbourg—Haute-Saint-Charles, QC]

I would like CBC/Radio-Canada to provide us with the documentation. It is a public corporation. I have heard two different sets of testimony and I would like to see the documents in order to verify whether or not they are consistent. I want to know what they proposed and what the status of negotiations is with the group that appeared.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

If the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has other documents that it could provide, perhaps it could forward them to us.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

I have nothing other than the information that was provided this morning. You already have all the correspondence.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

We will suspend the meeting for a few minutes. Is there anything further?

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

Mr. Lacroix, which document outlines the five points and states that no CBC personnel will be allowed?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Madame Glover, actually, I would really like to read from a document. But this offer was made by Mr. Brace in front of this committee. We read about it in the paper.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

No, he did not say no CBC personnel, etc.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

That's a conversation that Mr. Lafrance had, as I said in my notes, yesterday.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

So it's a “he said, she said”. Do you have no documents to show?

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

Ma'am, I'm sorry. They raised this issue in front of this committee on Tuesday. They didn't phone us beforehand to tell us what it was about. I don't know what the conditions are. They were given verbally to Mr. Lafrance, because we ran after it yesterday.

[Shelly Glover, Conservative, Saint Boniface, MB]

I'm sorry, I misunderstood. I thought there was a document, and that's what I was trying to get at. We'll have to bring you back.

[Hubert T. Lacroix]

There is no document.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

When you receive the document, please be kind enough to forward a copy to us.

We will suspend the meeting for a few moments.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

I would like to call this meeting back to order.

My name is Steven Blaney, and I am Chair of the Official Languages Committee here in Ottawa.

What time is it there?

[Yves Trudel, Executive Director, Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique]

It is 7:15 a.m.

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Please accept our apologies for the 15 minute delay.

Welcome to the second half of our meeting on broadcasting and services in French at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games.

Our witness this morning is Mr. Yves Trudel, Executive Director of the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique, who is working with the Olympic Committee.

Mr. Trudel, I would invite you to make your opening statement now, after which there will be several rounds of questioning about your presentation from members of the four political parties.

[Yves Trudel]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. Chairman, members of the Official Languages Committee, thank you for your invitation and for allowing the Fédération des francophones de la Colombie-Britannique to contribute to this important discussion on coverage in French of the Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. My name is Yves Trudel and I am the Executive Director of the FFCB.

I have to say, right from the outset, that our community was surprised, and even concerned, when it found out, at the same time as all other Canadians, that coverage of the Games had been awarded to the Bell Globemedia consortium, which includes RDS, a pay service, and TQS, which does not broadcast over-the-air outside of Quebec.

In our opinion, the decision of the International Olympic Committee not to award the contract for Olympic coverage to a national broadcaster was not a pragmatic one. We believe that any event of national or international scope should necessarily be broadcast over a national network, or one which, at the very least, is available to everyone at no additional cost.

Having said that, based on the content of a Canadian Press article that appeared on January 8, the CRTC report tabled on March 30 and information provided by Ms. Mounier, the Assistant Deputy Minister of International and Intergovernmental Affairs and Sport, at hearings held by the Standing Senate Committee on Official Languages on April 27, the consortium has negotiated free access to those channels broadcasting the Games in French with cable and satellite operators. So, we now know that not only will Télévision Quatre-Saisons and the Réseau des Sports be used, but also the Réseau Info-Sports and the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, or APTN. Therefore, part of the programming is in French. Based on this recent information, the consortium now believes that more than 95% of Canadians will have access to Olympic coverage.

The fact remains, however, that TQS is not available in every region of the country. The TQS network currently has only one antenna outside of Quebec. Although the consortium did indicate that it will broadcast all competitions live on its Web site, in addition to providing VSD content in both languages over the Internet, some members of our communities will not have access to Olympic coverage in their own language—including people who subscribe to certain analog services, people who are not subscribers of any broadcasting distribution undertaking, or BDU, and people who do not have access to broadband Internet service.

It is very unfortunate that CBC/Radio-Canada and the consortium were not able to negotiate an agreement whereby coverage would be provided to Francophones outside of Quebec, particularly those who are not BDU subscribers.

Furthermore, a number of questions are still unanswered, in our opinion.

Will RDS and TQS be in a position to propose programming that is comparable to what CTV and TSN have offered in the past? Can all our communities expect to receive the same number of hours of programming as their Anglophone neighbours? Can Francophone television viewers expect to receive coverage of events prior to the opening of the Games?

According to the latest CRTC report, the consortium expects that Canadians will have access to 1,100 hours of coverage in English but only 800 hours in French. Why that difference?

It should be noted that the consortium has confirmed that signals will be available at no charge for a three-month period, including the two-week period that precedes the opening of the Games. That is an interesting premise, but in no way does it meet all of our expectations.

For example, many artists and creators from our communities will be participating in activities during the pre-Olympic period, such as the Torch Relays and the Cultural Olympiad. We were very much expecting to give them the visibility they deserve at the provincial level, and, of course, at the national level.

I would like to give you a very practical example. Several months ago, we found out that RDS has installed in the Vancouver region--