Official Languages Committee on Nov. 1st, 2011

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

So, having looked at what's in the Roadmap for the francophone press, be it newspapers or something else, your feeling is that there are no language or other programs in there that could help you or are even aimed at you. There is nothing in the Roadmap which would allow you to tell the government that this is something for you and your group.

[Francis Potié]

I think we would really have to show considerable ingenuity in order to do that. As I mentioned earlier, we could always say that we are delivering a youth project and that it's in the Roadmap. That would be an additional argument in support of our project. However, unless I'm mistaken, there is not one word in the Roadmap which says that—

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

If there is to be another roadmap, what would you like to see in it?

[Francis Potié]

An example I could give would be the Aid to Publishers component, which is part of a program that is open to all newspapers in Canada, including English-language newspapers in Quebec. The Quebec Community Newspapers Association and ourselves have always argued in favour of a funding formula which recognizes the fact that it's far more difficult to penetrate a minority market which represents 2% or 3% of the population, and that there are far more obstacles involved. That is not currently in the Roadmap. My position is that the funding formula should reflect that reality, but it's not there.

Earlier I pointed out that the funding formula is the same for everyone. Whether it's an English-language newspaper in Swift Current or a French-language newspaper in Saskatchewan, the funding formula is exactly the same. And yet there are a lot more alternative strategies in play to distribute the newspaper in Swift Current. There are a lot more options. For example, L'Eau vive has to go through Canada Post, and yet the funding formula does not recognize that. Taking those examples of specific newspapers, it's clear that the funding formula should acknowledge the fact that newspapers operating in official language minority communities are special cases.

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

Madame Ryan, do you feel the minority language newspapers are treated equally?

[Lily Ryan]

In Quebec, the English minority, compared to the French minority in Canada...? Is that your question?

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

Yes, within the minority.

[Lily Ryan]

I can say that most member papers of the Quebec Community Newspapers Association have the impression that French language newspapers outside of Quebec have an advantage, whether it be advertising advantage or program funding.

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

How do you define that?

[Lily Ryan]

Speaking for the members, I might not be in the best place to answer that question. Often, a newspaper might not have a high enough circulation to take advantage of funding programs.

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

I was listening to Mr. Potié say it went down by 35%.

[Lily Ryan]

Was that advertising?

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

Yes.

[Lily Ryan]

We've had virtually nothing this year except for during the election campaign.

It's a bit of a mystery about which newspapers get which ads. For example, in the Outaouais, one newspaper got ads for the retrofit program. This was a very important program that most English language readers wouldn't know about if wasn't through their local paper. Readers of one paper might apply for this funding and retrofit their house and there would be an economic gain for them, whereas a neighbouring community's newspaper didn't get those ads and that population wouldn't even know the programs exists, unless they were browsing the Internet and somehow stumbled upon it.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Okay, thank you.

Monsieur Gourde.

[Jacques Gourde, Conservative, Lotbinière—Chutes-de-la-Chaudière, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

I would like to thank our witnesses for being with us this morning. Their comments are very interesting.

Each of you talked about the relationship between social medium and your own media, particularly newspapers and radio. I don't know whether the challenges are the same for everyone. From what I can tell, however, newspapers are practically always available on line. In Quebec at least, regional newspapers are, and the electronic version is updated on a daily basis. On the other hand, it must be more difficult for community radio stations to operate in that environment, since it is practically a competitor.

Can you tell me how you are dealing with the new technologies?

[Simon Forgues]

As I explained earlier, Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada recently submitted a project to Canadian Heritage. The idea is to carry out a project that we have been very interested in for some time now, which is acquiring mobile applications for the four main mobile operating systems—Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and iOS. We would like listeners to be able to receive our programming not only through the FM band, but also using these new platforms.

We are being told more and more often that young people are deserting FM radio and that there are fewer and fewer of them listening to the radio. Most of the time, they have their iPods glued to their ears. I think there are probably some young people out there who probably don't even know what FM radio is. On the other hand, they do know what streaming is. They subscribe to those kinds of services in order to get music on line. We do not yet have a presence there, but it is not out of a lack of desire. It's a fairly ambitious project, but we still would eventually like to get there. That's why we are working towards it.

You also talked about social media. They do represent a challenge for us, in that it's a platform that is attracting more and more people. At the ARC, however, we are trying to work things so that these media are more like allies than enemies or competitors. For example, we are trying to convince our members of the need for them to be on Facebook and to use that platform for discussions which can subsequently be broadcast on our airwaves. We also use Twitter to relay bits of information that could prompt listeners to visit the station's website to get all the news.

The fact remains that radio stations with inadequate staff are having trouble fulfilling their role as broadcasters and at the same time putting content on social platforms.

[François Côté]

Yes, putting content on social platforms takes an enormous amount of time. You have to be there as often as possible in order to stimulate discussion. Some radio stations have only a web page. They haven't yet really developed a site, because they don't have the time to do it. And, as we all know, people don't visit static sites. All of this represents a major challenge for us, because the government is talking more and more about putting advertising on the Internet. As a result, it is probable that there will be less of it on the radio or in the traditional media. That's a major challenge for us because we have to have a presence on the web in order to secure our share of government advertising. We would like to regain what we're in the process of losing.

However, some of our members have extremely limited resources. I'm thinking of Iqaluit, for example, where there are 500 francophones and the station has only one half-employee. And yet these people are on the air 24 hours a day, like any other radio station in Canada. Having to be everywhere at the same time is a huge challenge. That's why we are asking you to ensure that we can have at least one permanent employee in every one of our stations. That way, we will be able to devote a little time to the web and new media.

[Francis Potié]

Where newspapers are concerned, APF members have been on the Internet since the year 2000. However, having a presence there doesn't mean you're effective. There is a difference. As with every other medium, you have to learn to be an interactive medium, in addition to being a paper-based medium that is published every week.

Basically, the challenge for newspapers is the same as for radio stations—a small staff.

Yesterday, I had a discussion with someone and complimented him on their website. He answered that it was nice, but because of recent staff changes, their priority would be the newspaper and that the website would not be updated as frequently. It's always a challenge.

The Internet is a different medium. It is a medium of immediacy, which means that it must be constantly updated. Facebook and Twitter accounts mean constant interaction. There is learning involved and resources have to be dedicated to it. With our members, the results vary: some are investing a lot in this while others are not able to invest as much.

The second challenge is profitability. People would be prepared to invest more if they were making more income with the Internet. So far, no newspaper that belongs to our association is earning significant income through the Internet.

There is a third challenge as well. The APF cannot really support its members with respect to the Internet, even if it would like to, because there is not much funding available. Resources are also a challenge. They are not unlimited.

The Official Languages Support Programs Branch doesn't really want to get involved in the Internet. If I'm not mistaken, that is because it receives a lot of funding applications. If it opens that door, there will be additional pressures on what is a limited budget. As for Industry Canada, it is no longer involved in that area, whereas previously, it was involved in the Franco-communauté virtuelle project.

That is a summary of the current situation. In a context where we are fighting against assimilation, government's support for web services would be greatly appreciated by the francophone media.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Thank you, Mr. Potié.

Mr. Bélanger, please.

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My first question is for you or the clerk. I think you are going to get used to hearing me ask it.

More than two weeks ago, the committee requested information from Canadian Heritage about the Roadmap. Canadian Heritage promised to provide it. Have we received it?

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

No, we have not received--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

I guess we should go and knock on their door, give them a call or send them an e-mail to find out what is going on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Michael Chong]

Yes, I asked the clerk at the last meeting to inquire of them. I'll ask him again on behalf of all committee members if he could get an estimated time--

[Mauril Bélanger, Liberal, Ottawa—Vanier, ON]

We don't want to receive the information once we have completed our hearings. That would not be very helpful.