Official Languages Committee on March 26th, 2018

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Order, please.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108, this is a review of support programs for official language minority community media.

It's our pleasure to have with us today, from The Sherbrooke Record, Sharon McCully, Publisher, and George Guzmas, Co-Publisher of the North Shore News. Sharon and George, welcome.

We're starting a bit late, and I think we might have to adjourn prior to when we expected. We're trying to do this as fast as possible, but the message that you are bringing to us is very important.

Minister Joly is going to announce her action plan. As I mentioned earlier, the action plan is on the verge of being rolled out.

It's very important to hear your comments about that.

You will have 10 minutes, both of you, or five to seven minutes each.

We'll start with Sharon. Sharon, go ahead. Welcome.

[Sharon McCully, Publisher, The Sherbrooke Record]

I'm from Monsieur Paradis'—

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

You may be interested to know that Ms. McCully comes from my region.

[Sharon McCully]

Mr. Chair, members of the committee, thank you for your invitation to appear before you today.

I began my career in journalism 40 years ago in the Gaspé. At that time, we were trying to get a minority-language newspaper created. There was no English media whatsoever at that time, and CBC, the only English radio, was coming to them from New Brunswick. There was no way for people in the Gaspé to have any information about the policies that were affecting them, so we started a newspaper there in 1977. I'm happy to say it's still going strong. CBC is also there. We got them up Mont Carleton over the Baie-des-Chaleurs, and everything is fine with them there.

The newspaper I'm with is The Sherbrooke Record. You may know it. It's probably one of the storied newspapers. It was the first newspaper of Conrad Black, David Radler, and Peter White. The newspaper was also owned by the Bassett family, who are very important in newspapers, and by Pierre Péladeau. We talked to Pierre Karl about the English-speaking community, because he would come to visit us often. It is also the newspaper, again, of the same corporate owners.

The Record celebrated its 121st anniversary last month by launching a user-friendly digital archive of every publication since 1897. The pages of our newspaper are as valuable as any archival resource in documenting the development of our communities. Woven together, they tell a story of a once vibrant English-speaking community that built an institutional network of schools, churches, hospitals, and community centres, many of which have disappeared now. As a historic tool, they provide first-hand accounts of the formation and evolution of our communities.

While access to English media is not an issue for the English-speaking Quebecker as it is with the French-language minority outside of Quebec, the content of English media is rarely relevant to English-speaking people living off the Island of Montreal. For that reason, the presence of community papers is vital, particularly in remote areas, where the local newspaper is the key source of news and information. We appreciate Minister Joly's saying that local journalism is a factor that she is considering.

Every day, readership surveys tell us that even with digital media, the print newspaper, a community newspaper, is the key source of news.

We've had difficulties and challenges over the decades. The new digital media age is the not the only challenge we've had. In the seventies it was the proliferation of French-language weeklies. In every community in Quebec, the small but mighty subscriber-based English-language newspapers were quickly vanishing in the face of French-language small newspapers that were being distributed free of charge. This changed the playing field for all of us. Many English publishers responded by abandoning their own subscription base and going to free distribution. With a readership of only 10% in some areas of Quebec, the minority-language paper had to send out 50,000 copies of a paper to reach 5,000 people, so you had to be very selective in how you did your distribution.

The changes in technology have been a constant challenge. Technology not only changed the way newspapers were produced but also gave consumers a number of electronic alternatives to newspapers that fitted with their fast-paced lifestyles. For minority-language newspapers struggling to survive in an increasingly competitive marketplace, the introduction of the Internet and social media presented new obstacles as well as new opportunities, which in themselves present challenges when pitted against giants like Google and Facebook.

We also face demographic changes in Quebec. The declining number of English speakers in the province continues to be a major factor. At our paper, we all mourn when we read the obituary page, because we know that when this generation of older anglophones is gone, unless there is some miraculous intervention, the paper will require another reincarnation to survive. Attracting and retaining new readers is a challenge for all newspapers in a changing landscape regardless of size or language, but more so for a minority publication, which must also contend with readers at one end dying, and at the other end leaving the province or using social media to get their news.

The distribution of a minority paper requires creativity, in-depth knowledge of the community, and a lot of money. Unlike majority-language publications that have well-defined geographic borders, the minority community is dispersed in small pockets over a vast territory, and not all of it in a straight line. The introduction of e-editions of our newspaper has helped us in many ways.

Community papers have benefited from the federal government's publications assistance program for over a century, but that program is also in need of revision to respond to changes within the industry.

Another hardship facing minority newspapers is the absence of a sustained policy or a commitment on the part of the federal government to reach the minority population through newspaper advertising. For example, when a freeze on government advertising was imposed by a previous government, decision-makers failed to recognize the impact such a freeze would have on minority newspapers, both in terms of advertising revenues and on the dissemination of vital government information to the minority community. A special commission was launched to study the impact, and the freeze was partially lifted, though never fully reinstated.

More recently, the federal government's decision to use electronic media to transmit its messages has virtually shut out English-speaking seniors and thousands of others living outside of urban centres. The lack of visibility of the federal government in local newspapers also signals a lack of confidence in our papers, and the loss of those revenues for newspapers has threatened their very existence.

Why, you may ask, with all the challenges facing English-language newspapers in Quebec, do we continue to publish? Well, it's because we must. As long as there is an English-language community, there will be a need, with an expectation that the newspaper will always be there. When we were assessing our losses at the Record the day after we had a major fire in 1999, I received a call from one of our elderly subscribers. She didn't get her paper. I explained to her that last night our presses, the equipment, and everything we had had burned, and the paper was gone. She said, “Well, am I going to get it tomorrow?”

[A hon. member]

I remember that.

[Sharon McCully]

This is quite typical of the average reader of community newspapers. What has remained constant over the century is the commitment that our newspapers bring to respond to those needs.

If they were strictly commercial ventures, the owners would probably have thrown in the towel long ago. However, we're more than purveyors of news; we are the cement that unites members of a geographically dispersed minority community, a bridge between French-speaking and English-speaking neighbours, the link between past and present, and tangible evidence of the continued presence of an English-speaking population in Quebec. As long as there is a minority-language newspaper, there is proof of daily life in our communities to our schools, our churches, and community volunteer groups.

The need to inform communities, particularly those in isolated rural regions, is critical. Past editions of our newspapers documented the centralization of services and the dismantling of rural economies. The demise of VIA Rail and Canada Post and the cuts to regional CBC bureaus testify to the impact of decisions on all rural regions, but more profoundly on the minority communities who live there.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Sharon, we're kind of running out of time.

[Sharon McCully]

Okay.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Can I suggest that you continue answering the questions of members afterward?

[Sharon McCully]

I will do that.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Okay. Thank you very much for what you've done.

We'll go directly to George now.

[George Guzmas, Co-Publisher, The North Shore News, Newsfirst Multimedia]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Usually I don't have papers in front of me, but because I talk too much, I need to have papers.

It is a privilege and honour for me to be invited by your committee and to have the opportunity to address the viability of official languages newspapers. I would like to thank especially MP Linda Lapointe for making this possible. We've been covering Ms. Lapointe's political career since 2007, and she knows that.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

It's my birthday today, 11 years later.

[George Guzmas]

Exactly.

My words and comments reflect the words and comments of all publishers and owners of official languages newspapers. We all work really hard, with great passion, to keep our newspapers alive in order to continue to cover, with journalistic integrity, our local communities' issues and people not covered by any other media. We do all that by being some type of miracle-worker, since the hours that we and our dedicated staff put in every week do not reflect the remuneration allocated.

I assure you that all those working in a local official-language newspaper believe in being part of and helping their communities, especially the seniors who depend on reading their newspaper in the language they understand. In other words, all those working in our official languages newspapers believe in their vocation, and they are proud of it.

Publishing an English paper in Quebec is very hard. French papers outside Quebec have ad support from some of the provincial governments. Here, because of the provincial government's policies, we get nothing as English papers. Furthermore, in the last years we are paying an unfair recycling tax of thousands of dollars because the Quebec government compares advertising flyers with newspapers that print news content.

Also, you must know that aside from a small reduction of our recycling invoice, Quebec announced recently that it wants each paper to spend up to $30,000 on a study in order to get equal financial help from the Quebec government for innovation. On top of that, in Quebec, with the adoption of Bill 122, municipalities are no longer obligated to advertise public notices in local papers, even though the English papers in Quebec rarely get such notices. That is the context of community papers in Quebec.

Now let's come to the federal government. For your information, the 35 English community papers in Quebec received $350,000 in federal advertising in 2002. In this fiscal year finishing on March 2018, we received only $15,000, which is less than $500 per paper. The federal assistance program, the former magazine fund, does not help any of the community papers, especially English papers in Quebec. This is because, as Sharon said, we distribute for free, most of us door-to-door, which costs a lot in our municipality, and we are sustained only by advertising.

We believe in the integrity of journalism. We provide news and local content as community papers. We are the only ones who cover and write about our MPs, their activities, and the various programs presented through the different ministries. We report and write everything. We check them out because we believe in credible journalism and not in fake news.

You must know that our hard work is used by Google and Facebook to create content and sell ads. Actually, an analysis in a recent study based on stats found out that the content has generated $23 million of advertising in Quebec, revenue that of course we're not getting. The analysts believe that in Quebec we should get at least half of that, $11 million, but as you know, we will not get it.

Going digital is not sustainable economically for French newspapers outside of Quebec or for English papers in Quebec. The numbers speak for themselves. Web advertising cannot sustain the papers financially because digital revenue is calculated as per 1,000 views. If the paper sells it, it's $5 per 1,000 views. A maximum of three ads per page, as instructed by Google, yields $15 per page.

Let's say my papers go fully digital. To keep my journalists and small staff, I would need $25,000 per month. To get that revenue, I would need to generate 1.7 million page views, and these are ads that we have to sell. If Google gets those ads for us, then we get $1 per 1,000 views, for which I would then need 8 million views, the same number that La Presse has. La Presse spent $47 million for its program. La Presse generates $2,300 per day in revenue.

Community papers, you must know, get about 20,000 to 30,000 views per month, which is $400 in revenue per month or $4,800 per year. If these ads are sold by Google, revenue comes down to $2,400 per year. Who am I going to pay with $2,400 per year? Not even the janitor. Now you know about all ads placed in newspapers.

We demonstrated the importance of ads when H1N1 happened in Quebec and across Canada. There was a big campaign about H1N1 and everybody knew where to go and how to go about it.

We are also faced with unfair taxation. Our ads are taxed, while Google and Facebook ads are not. This is not fair.

In conclusion, by sustaining the viability of official-language papers, you will be sustaining thousands of jobs for middle-class Canadians. You'll be sustaining the newsroom and protecting Canadian journalism, sustaining jobs of our middle-class family employees who work in our newspapers, sustaining jobs for printers and their employees who print our papers, sustaining jobs in the paper mill industry and of their employees who produce the paper we print on, and sustaining jobs in the forest industry where paper material comes from. As you can see, sustaining official-language papers has positive employment repercussions in many other fields. That is the reality check of things.

It's up to you to decide the future of official-language papers. You, the members of the standing committee, have the power to help official-language papers in Quebec and outside of Quebec, which provide local news content with journalistic values and integrity.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much, George.

I have just a comment for the members of the committee.

We are cancelling Wednesday's meeting as there will be a technical briefing, for the benefit of all members of Parliament, on Minister Joly's announcement regarding the official languages action plan. I think that it would behoove all members to be in attendance.

Mr. Clarke, you may go ahead.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for letting us know. I very much appreciate it.

That said, I should've liked this committee to have the benefit of a briefing prior to the announcement and ahead of other members of Parliament. I am putting this on the record so that there is no secret as to my thoughts on the matter. I could've sworn that the minister told us that we would be the first to know the details of the official languages action plan, that is, before the general public. This would have given us the opportunity to provide input, which she may have wished to incorporate at a later stage.

I say this without malice. I am very disappointed in the way the minister has conducted herself in this instance.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

I was informed that the technical briefing is for all members of Parliament.

I apologize to the witnesses while the committee addresses issues of concern to its members.

Mrs. Boucher, do you have anything to say on the matter?

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

I would've liked to be briefed ahead of time. We are the Standing Committee on Official Languages. I do not understand. The minister had told us, back when I sat on the committee—I left and then came back—that we would be the first to be apprised of its contents. Now we learn that the briefing will be open to all and sundry. We were never given the opportunity to review the report first. The minister also sent it to the Senate rather than sending it here.

I am not angry, but I do find it regrettable.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you for your comments.

I will ask Mr. Casey, who is here with us today, to pass on your comments to Minister Joly. Mr. Casey is Ms. Joly's parliamentary secretary.

That is indeed possible, is it not?

[Sean Casey, Liberal, Charlottetown, PE]

I shall pass them on.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Very well.

Since Ms. Ryan has yet to arrive, we will proceed with the first round. I will shorten members's speaking time since it is our understanding that the bells, beckoning us to vote, may ring at any time.

You know how things work here. We do not know when the bells will start ringing.

I will therefore shorten members' speaking time. Members usually get five minutes; however, in this initial round, each member will have four minutes.

We will get started straightaway with you, Mr. Clarke. You have four minutes.

[Alupa Clarke, Conservative, Beauport—Limoilou, QC]

Thank you, sir. Good afternoon to both of you. Thank you very much for being here with us today.

Mr. Guzmas, you said you wanted us to speak about the future of papers for small linguistic communities across the country. I just want to ask you two quick questions.

First, last week we had representatives from the Association de la presse francophone, l'Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada, and the Quebec Community Newspapers Association. They told us that the $50 million in the budget will not be coming out quickly enough. Although they said it's good, it's not coming out quickly enough to save your papers. Will your paper prospectively close down in two weeks, or very soon?

[George Guzmas]

I don't know if it will be two weeks or three weeks or a month, but believe me, we have been cutting staff. Things are really, really hard. On that I speak for at least all the papers of the QCNA, of which we are members.

[Sharon McCully]

I can tell you also that we are going month by month, looking at declining revenues and cutting staff. The challenges are real.

[George Guzmas]

Just to give you an example, for eight months I've had to play the secretary, and believe me, I'm not handsome enough for that.