Official Languages Committee on March 16th, 2010

[Simon Forgues]

That's right. In Quebec, for example, if that is what it's like for someone in Rimouski who complains that all there is is coverage of Montreal, imagine what it's like for someone who is even farther from Montreal, someone who lives in Saskatchewan or Manitoba. It is even more striking.

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

I see. You cannot compare the two. It is not the same kind of radio.

[Simon Forgues]

No.

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

What happens when the CRTC sets broadcasting conditions?

[Simon Forgues]

Having said that, you cannot compare the mandate, or the funding.

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

It is a public broadcaster.

[Simon Forgues]

Our charm—

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

We can't forget that. We have a public broadcaster, Radio-Canada. I don't hide my support for it.

[Simon Forgues]

Yes.

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

I can't see community radio taking over for Radio-Canada.

[Simon Forgues]

Not at all, no.

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

It is a national public broadcaster that we must support and be proud of.

[François Côté]

Yes.

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

Community radio is different.

[Simon Forgues]

Precisely. Each one has its own mandate.

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

Community radio was not created to replace Radio-Canada.

[François Côté]

No.

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

It is local radio for the regions, with a good mandate.

[François Côté]

Yes.

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

So people can see themselves in it.

[François Côté]

Yes.

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

There is a big difference between the two. If we wanted to support a single community radio station across Canada, it would perhaps receive the same funding as Radio-Canada. It's not the same thing. We must make a distinction between the two.

Are you at an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to CRTC requirements for music, programs and news? Would you like to see changes made?

[François Côté]

We would clearly like to see some changes. That is why we undertook a review of the Community Radio and Campus Radio policy in January, before the CRTC. Essentially, we asked the CRTC to ease the rules, because we feel existing rules are too restrictive for our radio stations given the limited resources we have. Ultimately, we are being asked to do a lot more with considerably less than private radio stations and Radio-Canada. We asked them to ease the rules.

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

May I ask what kind of measures you asked for?

[François Côté]

Yes, they involved music, among other things. The CRTC has asked us to limit our pop or rock music to 80%. The rest, in other words 20%, up until now was made up of 12% country music, and 8% music from category 3, which includes jazz and blues. We are compelled to do that. We acknowledge that our mandate is somewhat different or complementary to the other sectors. We said that we accept the 80% limit but that we would like to be free to do as we see fit with the remaining 20%.

The current standard is not representative of communities. If people in Pokemouche want to listen to Cayouche for the remaining 20% of the time, it should be their right to do so. We should not impose jazz or blues on them, when the community does not want that. That is one of the measures we asked for.