Mr. Speaker, after 40 years, five months and one week on the air, CJMS 1280, long known as Montreal's news leader, ceased operations. Along with it, six other stations of the Radio Mutuel network in Quebec City, Hull, Trois-Rivières, Chicoutimi and Sherbrooke went out of existence.
This loss deals a heavy blow to the regions, which thus lose some power and where it is increasingly important to strengthen and diversify the news available to the public instead of reducing it. This merger of Radio Mutuel and Télémédia seems to concentrate the news media too much, and the very security of democracy in the regions is at stake.
I therefore ask the CRTC to pay close attention to this issue before agreeing to this merger.