Mr. Speaker, under Radio-Canada's management, culture is dwindling. First it was the disappearance of the program Au coeur du monde , and now management has announced that the most popular radio program, Johanne Laurendreau's Rayon Musique , is going to be cut, supposedly because there are too many radio hosts, and also because the new broadcasting plan is focusing more on music and less on spoken commentary.
When Mira Krie and Jean Deschamps were forced to retire, it was assumed that they would be replaced by permanent staffers, but instead they have been replaced by people on contract.
What is more, the disappearance of the program Passage delivers a strange message to its faithful listeners, who, during the Radio-Canada lockout, made their feelings known and expressed their nostalgia for quality programming at Radio-Canada. Is radio programming not being stripped of its content?
Yet, the vice-president in charge of programming, Sylvain Lafrance, appeared before the joint committee on official languages and spoke of the great generosity for funding regional productions, in the cultural sector in particular, and of the additional journalists who would be starting this fall.
Is there not a contradiction here?