Official Languages Committee on March 19th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Yes.

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

Ms. Kenny, you said you have 650 subscribers.

[Marie-France Kenny]

Yes.

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

Yet you only have the equivalent of one and a half employees. Commend them for me. They are angels, super employees.

You put out 50,000 publications a year?

[Marie-France Kenny]

Pardon?

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

You put out 50,000 publications a year?

[Marie-France Kenny]

No. We lose $50,000 in advertising revenue a year. It's an important number, but it doesn't relate to publications. We publish twice a month.

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

Right. So you have 650 subscribers. Let's start over.

How much money does $1.5 million represent for you?

[Marie-France Kenny]

It means $50,000 a year. I calculated the average.

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

We're talking about $50,000 for L'Eau vive alone?

[Marie-France Kenny]

Essentially. For the government, $1.5 million isn't a large amount, but for us it's huge.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

We'll now go to Mr. Choquette.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much for being here.

I have in my hands the Commissioner of Official Languages' final investigation report on media of the official language minority communities.

In the second recommendation, Public Services and Procurement Canada and the Department of Canadian Heritage are asked to analyze the impact on these media of the reorientation of the Government of Canada's advertising.

To your knowledge, has this impact analysis been done?

[Marie-France Kenny]

I saw that Public Services and Procurement Canada had done a study to find out Canadians' media habits. We were talking about Canadians in a minority situation. However, if I remember correctly, 42% of the respondents weren't in a minority situation. I can also tell you that there were no data on the respondents' age and place of residence.

Are they from Zenon Park, Saskatchewan, where high-speed Internet isn't yet available?

Are they 72 years old or 16 and already seasoned users of social media?

We can't know.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I was asking this question because—

[Marie-France Kenny]

Discussions have been held since this report came out. Some people invited us to sit down with them and chat. But chatting doesn't let us publish our newspaper. Nor does it allow it to survive.

Can we stop chatting and thinking and simply do?

For me, action is concrete, easy and simple.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

I think it's important. This recommendation was made in June 2017. In my opinion, there has been enough time to do the impact analysis and consult with you on this. You have already mentioned these impacts. However, if we don't really know the consequences, we can't take action and correct the mistakes. You said that you were contacted.

In addition, you have seen the 2018 budget. Does it offer anything to counter the crisis being experienced by the media in minority communities?

[Marie-France Kenny]

As I told the employees of Minister Joly's office, it is too early to say. In my opinion, the question is how this will translate on the ground. I am encouraged that we are talking directly about the media in the official languages section. I hope that means that there will be an additional investment to support community newspapers and radio stations in minority communities, which means anglophones and francophones. However, beyond all that, how will that translate on the ground? We don't know. So it's difficult for me to say because I don't know.

[Martin Théberge]

I agree with Ms. Kenny. I think there are two elements to the answer.

First, there is the $50 million that Mr. Clarke spoke about earlier. There is potential there, but we don't yet know how this will play out.

Then, we are often told that the Action Plan for Official Languages will sort this out, but it involves a document that we still have yet to see. That's why we can't really answer. Having said that, we are eager to see it.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

Okay.

[Marie-France Kenny]

Very eager.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

What does this business of the number of clicks mean? Is it that the government simply wants to make sure that its information and advertising is seen and distributed? It uses Facebook and other similar platforms. We have seen the controversy surrounding the agreements with Netflix. So the government is leaving the more traditional advertising space. The problem is the one you mentioned: by doing this, the government is not respecting its obligations to official language minority communities. That's what I understand.

[Martin Théberge]

I started by saying that the government can't do without the local media as hubs. The problem is that today's approach is often a business approach. It is based on the number of clicks or listeners, for example. Of course CKOI in Montreal has more listeners than CKJM in Chéticamp, that's for sure. However, if the government applies this approach, it forgets the pivotal role that community media plays in our communities.

[François Choquette, NDP, Drummond, QC]

As for the famous Canada Periodical Fund, how would you suggest changing it? I understand that this fund needs to be improved. What exactly should we do with it?

[Marie-France Kenny]

It's set out in the act. I hate always talking about the act because, I think it's common sense: let's see what this newspaper does, what its needs are compared to others. The act makes it clear that in the official language minority community media, when a program or service is put in place, you must make sure that the reality of those communities is taken into account. This is the legislation, and there is jurisprudence to that effect. The meaning of the act therefore requires us to see what the particular needs of our communities are. Of course, I personally do not have access to a host of advertisers in my province. I don't have the same access as the Journal de Montréal in Montreal, and I don't have the same access as Châtelaine , as just mentioned. However, we see that these are people who make significant profits. My newspaper has made a profit of $2,000 over the last two years, but it has a debt of $48,000. Today, the debt is $44,000. That's our reality, given that we have the equivalent of one and a half employees. I must tell you that our volunteer board is very committed.