Official Languages committee  When the decision was made in July, the commission was sensitive to the concerns of the communities. I think they were particularly concerned that money was allocated to Radio-Canada to provide French-language services to francophone minority communities. The commission clearly said that the issue would be discussed.

Official Languages committee  The deliberations are not over yet. We have not made our decision yet.

Official Languages committee  A number of francophone groups have expressed their views. I will leave it at that. This is dangerous ground since the commission is an administrative tribunal.

Official Languages committee  No one is listening, right?

Official Languages committee  We are well aware of the problem and we are listening. Mr. Dion, I worked for the Department of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages for a number of years. I was an official languages champion before and I used to live in a minority setting. I am well aware of the challenges facing communities.

Official Languages committee  There are several. Leaving aside the radio and television programming, the way in which people access those services, especially in the case of television, is often through distribution systems such as cable or satellite. We have done a lot there. In my presentation, I mentioned the one-for-ten rule for services.

Official Languages committee  I think it is an internal decision. We have rules for the networks, but they do not apply in that case.

Official Languages committee  The first problem is that you were dealing with a hotel. If you were staying, not in a hotel, but in the community, the services available would be a little different. Hotels get an exemption from the CRTC, given that a great majority of Canadians are not in them, just the ones who travel.

Official Languages committee  I am not sure what services they are subscribed to, but…

Official Languages committee  It depends. People can make choices. You are absolutely right in saying that hockey in French is no longer available the way it used to be, free on Radio-Canada. However, it is available on specialty sports channels to which people can subscribe, be it the Réseau des sports or another network.

Official Languages committee  This policy has been in effect since the 1990s at least.

Official Languages committee  The way the broadcast distribution rules—

Official Languages committee  Yes. The way that broadcast distribution rules apply to cable and satellite companies, they are required to make a contribution to local expression. That takes several forms. There is a varying percentage that they give to the Canada Media Fund. That is a substantial fund for the more high-end dramas.

Official Languages committee  To my knowledge, few people have asked us for that kind of service. If they did, we could consider it. Often youth programs, for example, produced either in French or English, receive support from various other programs so that they can be dubbed or subtitled and made available in the other language.

Official Languages committee  To my knowledge, there are no bilingual channels.