Mr. Speaker, despite challenges of geography, language and proximity to the largest cultural exporter in the world, Canada has built a broadcasting system that works.
In fact, the Canadian broadcasting system stands alone as one of the great achievements of our nation. The government remains committed to a single broadcasting system comprised of public, private and community elements.
It is a system that operates in both French and English and serves official language minority communities. Since it was first established in 1936, CBC Radio-Canada has been a core institution and a unique component of the Canadian broadcasting system. Canadians have traditionally turned to their national public broadcaster as a source for news, information and entertainment.
The mandate of CBC Radio-Canada is contained in the Broadcasting Act. Its objectives present a broad mandate and challenge our national public broadcaster to produce programming that reflects Canadians across the country. The act stipulates that CBC Radio-Canada's programming is expected to actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression.
According to the act, programming offered by CBC Radio-Canada is expected to be in English and French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities.
Furthermore, CBC Radio-Canada's programming should “strive to be of equivalent quality in English and in French”. As a national public broadcaster, CBC Radio-Canada should reflect all the population it serves and offer something for all Canadians. Therefore, in March 2007, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage launched a full investigation of the role for a public broadcaster in the 21st century.
As part of its proceedings the committee heard from a wide range of witnesses. The committee also travelled to Whitehorse, Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, St. John's and Montreal.
Tabled in February 2008, the report confirmed the importance of the national public broadcaster, stating that the committee regards CBC Radio-Canada as an essential public institution that plays a crucial role in bringing Canadians together.
The committee also made a recommendation to stress how important it is for CBC Radio-Canada to continue to contribute to shared national consciousness and identity as stipulated in subparagraph 3(1)(m)(vi) of the Broadcasting Act. The committee acknowledged the English language and French language television services face different challenges as a result of their respective situations, their needs and the characteristics of their audiences.
The committee considered that CBC Radio-Canada's role of building bridges and fostering mutual understanding among Canadians to be essential. The committee added that CBC Radio-Canada is a major national public institution and is supported by all Canadians. Canadians have the right to expect the corporation to tell them more about themselves and what is going on around the country.
I wish to thank the members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage for their work. Having been one of them, I know that we worked hard on this highly important issue and I look forward to the continued cooperation among the committee members on issues like this.