Mr. Chairman, the member asks “is it not of concern to the minister?”. I would tell him that my main concern is to make sure that public television remains public.
I will give you some examples. The series Canada: A People's History was watched by 15 million people. The videocassette and book of this series are best-sellers. The bilingual Web site comprises 500 pages and is consulted by students, professors and the general public.
The news team of the CBC television won the Excellence in Journalism Award of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, for its coverage of the Iraq war. The mini-series Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion captured the attention of 1.5 million viewers on CBC and was completed with 350 local activities. That is also what it is about. This is the role of the Crown corporation, non only as far as the image is concerned, but also as project originator and developer.
I think about ZeD TV, in Vancouver, and about Bande à part , for instance. These are all initiatives of our public television. Now, another program, Grande Ourse , is watched by over one million people every week on SRC.
In my opinion, our public television has to set standards. It is its purpose. Obviously, it should be provided in both languages, it should also serve the French-speaking communities outside Quebec that are minorities. This is the role of our public television.