Mr. Speaker, cuts of four per cent for this year were announced in the Minister of Finance's budget. In fact this is not out of proportion, compared to cuts we were forced to make in other sectors.
We also decided then that we had to review the CBC's mandate and that of other related organizations in order to determine how to adjust to today's realities with today's financial means, and in order to determine the kind of television network we need in order to be competitive in the 21st century.
When the CBC was created, Canadians only had access to two television channels; now they can access between 100 and 200 channels. In the near future, we will be setting up a committee to align the CBC's mandate with today's and tomorrow's realities, and working from the revised mandate, we will determine a budget enabling the CBC and other similar organizations to reach their new objectives.