Official Languages Committee on March 23rd, 2010

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

No, I'm not. You have good foot soldiers fighting for judges who are spreading untruths, but that's okay.

Back to what you were saying, the only broadcaster who can give us 100% of all of that, nationwide, is not Channel V. Channel V isn't interested in broadcasting Vancouver-based news in Montreal. You can be sure of that. It's not obligated to do so.

And yet, that's the CBC's mandate. So aren't you worried about the CRTC decision to exclude the CBC? Perhaps you have a good reason for being so. You don't want the CBC to say, as a result of not being able to collect fees from cable companies, that it's going to withdraw from certain regions. I don't think that it should be entitled to withdraw. It should provide a service to all Canadians in every way it can. I don't want it to be able to opt out.

But how will the government support the CBC if there are financial woes? They spoke about that last night and this morning on the news, and it worries me.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

You should ask Mr. von Finckenstein to testify before the committee on that subject.

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

Who?

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Mr. Konrad von Finckenstein, the Chairman of the CRTC. You should ask him to appear as a witness and ask him these questions. It is his decision to make.

As far as I'm concerned, the Société Radio-Canada/CBC is very important in the area of official languages for the very reasons I have just set out.

If the SRC did not exist in Vancouver, there would be no broadcasting in French throughout British Columbia. It is the third largest province in Canada in terms of population, one that is increasingly diversified given the large number of new Canadians. It is very important to protect the French fact.

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

When the flame arrived in Vancouver by plane, I watched the ceremony on CTV. On Radio-Canada television, because the station was not included in the agreement, the door to the plane had yet to be opened whereas the ceremony was already underway on other channels. Canal V wasn't there nor was RDS. No one was there.

I can assure that 100% of Canadians did not see the ceremony live.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

These were the most highly televised Games in the history of the Olympics. It wasn't perfect—

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

Earlier, you said it was 100%.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Pardon me?

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

Earlier on you said it was 100%. It was not 100%.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

It was more highly available electronically, on TV, on the radio, as was the advertising, than ever before in the history of the Olympic Games.

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

Now, with respect to funding—

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

I would like to add that it was certainly not perfect.

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

All right.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

There has been criticism of CTV and much of that criticism is accurate.

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

Let us now get back to transfers to communities.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Very well.

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

You alleged that there was "red tape". That is what the anglophone community said this morning. Things changed and I congratulate you on that. That is what had been called for.

Now, with respect to the money, will it get there on time? Will communities once again be forced to use their credit cards?

[An hon. member]

That just makes no sense.

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

That is why we need an answer.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

We would never want to have people personally taking on expenditures for one of our key organizations, for instance a francophone community up North.

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

In Newfoundland.

[James Moore, Conservative, Port Moody—Westwood—Port Coquitlam, BC]

Yes.

We never want to see that happen. That is the reason why we enquired about the concerns and are constantly trying to find the best way to ensure that the money is spent effectively and responsibly on behalf of taxpayers and for the good of these organizations.

We brought some changes to the method by establishing the 50% rule. That will remain our government's policy. If concerns arise, we will find ways to address them.

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

You are supposed to establish a system allowing people to call, for instance, Canada Post, to find out the status of their application. Madam LaRocque, you're the one that mentioned this. Where do things stand at the moment?

[The Chair, Conservative, Steven Blaney]

Thank you.

[Judith LaRocque]

I would say we're halfway there, as we will be publishing our service standards on April 1 on our website, with will give our clientele some certainty.

We're also working with them to issue cheques. Eighty per cent of them have received notice that they will be receiving funds.