Canadian Heritage committee  Over the last 10 years, we believe that Franco-Canadian producers, directors and actors have been working in a area that has undergone a rather interesting professional development. And yet, these people are unknown. For a variety of reasons—reasons which would constitute a different submission on the subject—the entire pool of professionals is not at all well-known like people working at Radio-Canada in Montreal.

Canadian Heritage committee  Currently, there is an agreement to develop Franco-Canadian arts and culture. This agreement was entered into by seven cultural and artistic agencies, the federal government, and the French-Canadian Cultural Federation. Originally, the agreement sought to garner the commitment of not only Heritage Canada, but other agencies in order to develop francophone and Acadian communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  I will try to answer your question in two ways. Firstly, one basic principle is that a public television broadcaster such as SRC/CBC, should receive greater government financial support if we want it to fulfil its role as public television. If this were done, the broadcaster would be significantly less reliant on advertising income.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, with the tools that we currently have, such as the Canadian Television Fund. I think that it is a good thing that commercial television can dip into those funds to produce Canadian content.

Canadian Heritage committee  That is a possible solution. If this were to happen, we would be looking for people to buy into public television, to give people a sense of responsibility for public television. Conversely, public television will feel beholden to Canadians, more so than it would having to focus on commercial interests.

Canadian Heritage committee  Very well. Thank you.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes. This is a process which I think we began over one year ago. We met with CRTC representatives in order to see what type of consultative mechanism the CRTC could use to meet its obligations under sections 41 and 42 of the Official Languages Act. One recommendation was for a position to be created specifically to deal with sections 41 and 42, and for the CRTC to gain a sense of responsibility, internally.

Canadian Heritage committee  Like the APFTQ, we believe that there must be increased funding for the Canadian Television Fund. The work that has been accomplished in collaboration with the APFC has been a success, but more must be done. As you know, from the Canadian Television Fund $200 million go to anglophone production and $100 million to francophone production.

Canadian Heritage committee  I would tell you that it would certainly be to the advantage of Radio-Canada to do so. I lived in Alberta for 4 years and in the Yukon for 12, and these are two places where I saw very good cooperation between the CBC and Radio-Canada. In the North, among others, when I was Director of the Association franco-yukonnaise, in the case of CBC North and Radio-Canada, we fought to obtain a bilingual journalist, quite simply, who could serve both communities very well.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is because of the regional services. What differentiates Radio-Canada from other networks are these regional services. When you look at what is going on in the provinces, the regions, the Atlantic and in Ontario, it is very difficult to point to strong trends, but francophone and Acadian communities are generally satisfied.

Canadian Heritage committee  We can say that the bases are covered, but we must now do more, at the regional level. The weakest link is at the national level. As I've stated, people now see Radio-Canada as being almost Radio-Montreal. Radio-Canada needs to pull away from its Montreal central clique, it needs to get rid of the perception that the best in arts and culture can only be found in Montreal, within a 10-kilometre radius from CBC's head office.

Canadian Heritage committee  This is why in our brief we mentioned the idea of a royalty, which exists in France, for instance. In other words, it is a type of tax worth 500 or 1,200 francs or euros per household, to fund public television. There are other countries using this type of system. That is why we suggest this as a possible solution.

Canadian Heritage committee  The word "protectionism" has a certain negative connotation in this regard. In my opinion, Canadian society must above all refer to a principle which is more and more present, that of cultural diversity, following the signature of the convention. I think that from an international standpoint, we recognize that every country must have the means to have artistic and cultural production reflect its specific nature.

Canadian Heritage committee  Are you talking about promoting greater cooperation between the CBC and Radio-Canada? Is that the crossover?

Canadian Heritage committee  I've been the executive director of the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française for three years now and it is possible that the federation appeared before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in the past. I know that we appeared regularly before the Standing Committee on Official Languages, but this is possibly the first time we appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.