Finance committee  The moment Radio-Canada reduces its volume of production, there will clearly be a direct impact on the production company community. We feel, and we have always believed, that Radio-Canada should have stable funding that is known far enough in advance so that it is able to plan its costs, like every good manager, since we want them to be good managers.

Finance committee  The easy answer on where to get the money would be to say “Get it from the banks”. They have a lot of money, I read.

Finance committee  Unfortunately, your role is to decide who's going to end up with fewer resources than they had in the past. We simply have to remember that the expression of culture to Canadians is very important, and that cultural productions such as television and feature films are a leverage for new money coming into the country, through Hollywood productions or co-productions, and it should be considered in a very serious manner.

Finance committee  Are you asking me whether the investments we make in film stimulate Hollywood productions?

Finance committee  In one specific way, they do in the sense that, in Quebec—specifically in Quebec, but elsewhere in Canada, of course—we can pride ourselves in having a tremendously skilled and experienced workforce working with all the new technologies. Naturally, that attracts American producers.

Finance committee  Of course, it is essential to keep statistics as well as to analyze and follow the evolution of the industry. We must remember that these are excellent, creative and well-paying jobs for Canadians. They are also jobs that allow us to show what we can do outside Canada, which is no small factor these days from an economic perspective.

Finance committee  Thank you. In order to interest foreign producers, we have to offer an attractive proposition matched by dedicated funds. Fourth and last, buoyed by our experience with the Canada Media Fund, we believe that it is now time to establish a specific fund to finance Canadian cultural content that can be developed digitally.

Finance committee  Thank you, and good afternoon. I am the president and CEO of the Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec, the APFTQ. The association has been active for 40 years. It brings together some 140 independent film and television production companies. That is the majority of Quebec companies involved in production for all screens in both official languages.

Canadian Heritage committee  With the integration, what we've seen over the years is effectively an erosion of the capacity of producers to negotiate fair deals, which would of course give the broadcasters some rights to exploit the programming as business but also allow the producers to either sell the program abroad or give it a second life.

Canadian Heritage committee  I think we should. I think many of those new technologies are still exploratory. We have to be there, explore. I think we just have to make sure that the regulations and the legislation allow for every stakeholder to remain a stakeholder and a player in the industry. It's important that independent broadcasters succeed.

Canadian Heritage committee  The example you gave only has a short term effect, which we would also like to have. The point would be to make sure that Google base taxes on the income it collects from the French market, giving at least the French government the possibility to reinvest all or part of those amounts in the production of French content.

Canadian Heritage committee  The first country to do so with probably be France, which has already started. We do not claim that Canada is behind the rest of the world. However, we can see some trends at the international level. There is an increasing tendency to regulate the new technologies, the distribution of national progress based on those technologies.

Canadian Heritage committee  It is a solution. Here, we would want all the industry players to contribute to that funding. There is another important aspect that Mr. Bolen expressed very well a while ago . In Canada, we also have to find terms of agreements with the broadcasters. This would ensure that, taking account of integration, when you went to negotiate with the company owning cablevision, the Internet, traditional television and specialty channels, it would give you the same value for your license as what it gave you four years ago.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, the BDUs.

Canadian Heritage committee  I started in 1972, so I'm either older or I started younger. I'm not sure which.