Mr. Chair, it is strange—but it is also quite right—that in the same party, there is one member who is questioning the role and usefulness of public television, while the other one—and rightly so—is saying that public television has a major role to play within Canadian components.
Because it is its role to do so, public television can present a variety of voices and it must also reflect on Canadians in general.
As for media concentration, it is important to ensure that we have a variety of voices in Canada. We are a very well informed society, with over 350 television channels that are available. However, this diversity must be reflected everywhere. This is not so much an issue of concentration of ownership. Indeed, today, to buy or to own media, one must have considerable financial means. Consequently, conglomerates are unavoidable in that industry. We must ensure that within conglomerates, there is a diversity of voices. We can say that one conglomerate is a little too much on one side. We can say that another one is too much on the other side. That being said, we must ensure that, within the same ownership, this diversity exists.
A Senate committee is currently examining this issue and is supposed to reach some findings. It has held consultations everywhere and is supposed to submit the conclusions of its findings before Christmas. Now, we are asking the Senate committee to share its findings with us so that we can refer them to the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. We will then examine the issue of diversity that is very important for Canada.