Evidence of meeting #69 for Official Languages in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was crtc.
A video is available from Parliament.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Every employee is working on it. At the end of the day, everyone has an obligation to ensure we are fulfilling the objectives of the act. There is no single person in charge of holding everyone else accountable.
NDP
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
It depends on the part of the act. One person is in charge of Parts III, IV and V, and another person handles Part VII. Ultimately, I am responsible.
NDP
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
So there's no way to put a figure on it. You're saying that it's organization-wide.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
I think we—
NDP
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
On the contrary, we have an institution. A little while ago, Mr. Galipeau mentioned that the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages was committed to protecting official languages, and of course, that's true. However, a few other agencies, including ours, are, by virtue of their human makeup, very sensitive to both realities. We have mechanisms in place to help the commissioners take into account the reality and necessary considerations, when they're making decisions further to both pieces of legislation.
NDP
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
I'll take you at your word.
Have you measured the impact of eliminating the LPIF on official language minority communities? Is there a report on that? Or was the decision simply made without really knowing what the impact would be?
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
People attended the hearings to raise that issue. From what I observed, it was taken into account. But, as I mentioned, I did not take part in all the discussions. What I can say for sure is fairly limited. However, as I told Mr. Dion, the report is the commission's decision.
NDP
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
So what you're saying is that the report addresses the impact of eliminating the LPIF on official language minority communities. Is that right?
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Some commissioners wrote dissenting opinions regarding the decision. It was a central issue for the members involved in that decision.
NDP
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
Did you measure that impact during the CBC/Radio-Canada hearings?
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
In other words, when we started—
NDP
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
You may have misunderstood me, because that's not exactly what I said.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
I was talking about the phasing out of the LPIF. Bear in mind that the fund was not created for the purposes of official languages, but for financial reasons.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
I know it had a positive effect, especially for CBC/Radio-Canada. With respect to that decision, we said that we would look specifically at that aspect during CBC/Radio-Canada's licence renewal hearings. And we did that, but we have yet to make the decision.
NDP
Pierre Dionne Labelle NDP Rivière-du-Nord, QC
So you've postponed it.
With the switch from analog to digital, was a study done to assess the impact on official language minority communities?
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Absolutely. Three authorities worked together on that at the time. There was the CRTC, Heritage Canada, where I was back then, and Industry Canada. We even did surveys. Within the CRTC, there was an impact. It is important to understand that—
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Actually, we were quite surprised. Those living in minority communities were often the most connected, meaning they usually had cable because they received almost no off-air signals. That was equally true on both the anglophone and francophone sides. That is the reason the switch to digital didn't affect very many Canadians in official language minority communities. Most of them were receiving the signals.
Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
Yes. We did a survey on it at the time.