Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, everyone.
Founded in 1991, the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada promotes and defends the interests of minority French-language community radio stations. Twenty-eight of our radio stations broadcast their programs on the FM band while a twenty-ninth broadcasts its programs online while waiting to apply for a licence from the CRTC, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. This is proof that our communities still have an appetite for the radio medium.
A major player in commercial radio in Quebec recently asked the CRTC to lower the quotas for French-language music and eliminate the concept of prime time. However, the request, which aims to provide more flexibility to commercial broadcasters, is not aligned with the efforts of minority community broadcasters, who continue to constantly promote French-language music, despite all odds.
Certainly, private radio stations are facing competition from foreign digital platforms. That's undeniable. However, it must be remembered that this reality is not unique to private radio, as the entire radio sector in the country is facing pressures from foreign platforms that do not operate under the same rules as we do. If this proposal to lower the minimum threshold for French-language music is provoking such strong reactions in the music industry, among organizations defending the francophonie and among elected officials, it's because radio still plays a predominant role in the discoverability of francophone artists.
What do the Beauséjour group, originally from the Acadian Peninsula, Hubert Cormier from Anse-Bleue, New Brunswick, and the Bilinguish Boys, a Franco-Ontarian musical trio formed in the suburbs of Greater Sudbury, have in common? All have appeared in our national rankings, but few, if any, have had the privilege of being in the top positions on the charts with major private broadcasters. Why? Because it's our francophone community radio stations that still play this essential role of promoting and valuing music in our language, particularly in a minority setting.
Ironically, when commercial radio stations call for a reduction in French-language music quotas, our radio stations far exceed theirs and continue to support local artists by offering a variety of music formats that reflect the diversity of the Canadian francophonie. We could provide many examples of initiatives within our movement to promote artists from the Canadian francophonie, but we'll only mention a few.
Did you know, for example, that in Ontario, in the Georgian Bay area, one of our member radio stations, CFRH, has taken the bold step of offering music programming strictly in French?
In addition, radio stations in the west and the territories recently featured a microphone for young Franco-Manitoban singer-songwriter Micah Baribeau, who hosts a show aimed at introducing French songs to children. Produced by the Association des radios communautaires de l'Ouest et des territoires, the program Micah! Joue de la musique is now broadcast weekly by all our stations across the country.
Finally, we can also mention the two weekly hit parade shows from the Association des radios communautaires acadiennes du Nouveau-Brunswick, whose representatives are here. For about two decades, one of these shows has shone a spotlight on country music artists and the other on pop-rock artists.
This is plenty of evidence to show the role of community radio in promoting artists from the Canadian francophonie.
That commercial radio stations want to be relieved of their quota of French-language music is one thing. However, if our radio stations become the only ones to promote and value francophone artists in a tangible way, it will undoubtedly be worth giving them the necessary resources to continue doing so. There is a lot of pressure on our small organizations to continue managing music catalogues, creating shows, interviewing artists and building relationships with record labels and promotion agents, despite the pressure from digital giants like Spotify, Apple Music, and others. If we lighten the quotas for French-language songs for private broadcasters, it will be up to our radio stations and them alone to take on the responsibility of promoting and valuing artists from the francophonie. They will therefore need support from the government to continue their mission.
From these observations, we note that our radio stations are pillars for the vitality of the francophone community in Canada. Both the government and the stakeholders in the radio and music industry must acknowledge this. Our radio stations actively contribute to the discoverability and promotion of francophone artists beyond regulatory quotas, in many cases. The diversity of musical formats that our stations broadcast reflects the richness of our francophonie. Our stations are not limited to the Top 40. The reduction of quotas recently requested by commercial radio stations will certainly harm the visibility and promotion of francophone music.
There are solutions to preserve the francophone music ecosystem. Either we refuse to ease the quotas for commercial broadcasters and maintain the current situation, or we allow the reduction of their quotas, but, in return, we improve the existing compensation mechanisms, for example by increasing contributions for the development of Canadian content, to effectively promote and enhance francophone music.
