Official Languages Committee on Feb. 5th, 2018

[Sophie Gaulin]

That's a good question.

There are unique challenges. In the western provinces, in order to recruit four or five journalists, we have to get them to come to us. In fact, there isn't a single journalism program given in French in any of the western provinces. When we have a website and a well-functioning Internet connection, instead of needing only one or two journalists, we suddenly need four, five or six. Furthermore, I need to send these journalists for training in French, since that is their mother tongue.

We need to give them the training, as well as adapt the software and the equipment, but the main problem is with the labour force. Even with four journalists, I still need fact-checkers, as well as people to reread and revise the articles. Suddenly, my payroll just got a whole lot bigger: from $250,000 at the time to $700,000 now.

[Pierre-Paul Noreau]

Mr. Vandal, please allow me to add to the response.

There are 650,000 French-speakers in Ontario. Is it conceivable that there is only one French newspaper that serves them? this French newspaper, which is Le Droit, isn't even able to have a representative covering the activities at Queen's Park.

Franco-Ontarians criticize Le Droit for reflecting the Quebec context. Mr. Leitão is very nice, but he is the Quebec Minister of Finance. Ontario's is Greg Sorbara, and we would like to hear from him in Ontario.

The problem is that we don't have the means to cover the Ontario scene. I would be the happiest of men if I had any kind of correspondent at Queen's Park.

[Sophie Gaulin]

A freelancer.

[Pierre-Paul Noreau]

Yes, exactly. If I had a freelancer, I would be happy. However, we do not have the means. I can't talk about northern Ontario, Windsor, or Queen's Park, but I'm very good at talking about Prescott-Russell, Vanier, Orleans, Ottawa, and Kanata. Unfortunately, we should have more resources than our own.

I will illustrate my point as follows. Earlier, we talked about advertising. Ten years ago, the Canadian government poured $20 million into newspapers. Now it is injecting $495,000. What does that mean? In the case of a newspaper like mine, the government is injecting $4,800 a year. In Le Droit, an advertising page costs $1,600 to a major customer who regularly buys advertising. In short, it's as if the government was buying three pages of advertising a year in Le Droit. It's even worse for community media. Each community media receives $2,875. There is an imbalance. Don't think we aren't successful, because we are.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

Ms. Gaulin, you mentioned that your readers were rather reluctant to subscribe to the digital edition. Is that the case?

[Sophie Gaulin]

Yes.

We often have subscription drives for the digital version because it would reduce the cost of mail, production and printing. But it's not the answer because it leads to loss of income.

Readers tell us that they subscribe to both versions, the paper version and the digital version. When they travel, they read the digital version, but they like to read the paper version at home.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

La Liberté has 6,000 subscribers. Is that correct?

[Sophie Gaulin]

It is.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

That number is for the paper version. How many subscriptions are there for the digital version?

[Sophie Gaulin]

That's the total number.

[Dan Vandal, Liberal, Saint Boniface—Saint Vital, MB]

What is the breakdown for the subscriptions?

[Sophie Gaulin]

I have them here. There are 4,933 subscribers. There are 3,133 print subscribers and 1,800 digital subscribers. There are also kiosks where people can buy a copy.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, Mr. Vandal.

We are now going to start the first round. We will hear from Mr. Darrell Samson, Mrs. Sylvie Boucher and Mr. René Arsenault, who will each have about three minutes.

We'll start with Mr. Darrell Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Three minutes doesn't give me time to start my intervention.

[René Arseneault, Liberal, Madawaska—Restigouche, NB]

You can pass it off to me, if you want.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Mr. Noreau, thank you very much for the information you have given us.

I also want to confirm what you said, that the media are the pillar of our communities, culture and language. I know that the Le Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse represents communities in an excellent way.

I also really liked the expression you used. You said that the media is the defender of minorities. It's really exceptional.

The Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage has made recommendations. Which do you think might be useful? Have we made any progress on this?

For example, I know that a recommendation affects federal institutions, so that they share more information through billions of dollars spent on advertising. Then there is another recommendation about a training tax credit for journalists. That said, is there enough meat for you? Should we be putting our efforts into these recommendations? If so, where? From there, we can do our job.

[Pierre-Paul Noreau]

Personally, I don't think there's really been any progress so far. The recommendations of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage are rather minimal.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Do you think any of the recommendations are useful? If so, which ones?

[Pierre-Paul Noreau]

Obviously, anything related to training assistance is very useful, particularly in places like Manitoba, I imagine. The key is that the government recognizes that we, the official language minority media, really reach our communities. So it must give us a part—I'm not saying all—of its advertising contracts and the production tax credit. These are the two best recommendations.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Was this recommended by the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage?

[Pierre-Paul Noreau]

Yes.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Is that what you want?

Ms. Gaulin, do you have anything to add?

[Sophie Gaulin]

I think the tax credit is a win-win solution. I'll explain why. If the government is counting on the salaries of journalists, if it has to give payroll tax credits for the production of a newspaper of original Canadian content, it will be happy because it will have quality information: journalists will have done some research because they will have time to do it. When one journalist does research, there are three others who are writing.

The solution is also win-win, because the readers are also winners. For newspapers, the biggest expense is wages, not printing. In any event, that's the case for La Liberté. The digital version still needs to be fed.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you, Mr. Samson.

We will now move on to Mrs. Boucher.

[Sylvie Boucher, Conservative, Beauport—Côte-de-Beaupré—Île d’Orléans—Charlevoix, QC]

Good afternoon. Your comments are very interesting. Since I live in a rural area—I do not live in a minority community because I am in Quebec—I can tell you that our small rural newspapers are very important. Of course, advertising is too.

At my age, which is 55, I am still a fan of the newspaper in paper version. But, to be honest with you and to help you, I have to tell you that the new generation—I'm thinking of my daughters here—doesn't have the slightest interest in paper versions. People between the ages of 25 and 35 are all connected to their devices. However, I'm aware of the need to keep publications in print because they leave traces.

I totally agree with you. There was mention of the minister, who talks a lot about the digital age. But even if I don't want to criticize it, I think we might have to resort to incentives.

As for the future, not for my generation—I'm overwhelmed by technology—but for new generations, who live only through technology, I would like you to tell me how you think governments could adapt to this reality in the best way possible.