Official Languages committee  I'd say that for community radio stations, that is absolutely critical. In a context where money from fundraising and advertising is dropping year over year, obtaining base funding becomes critical. Many of our radio stations are in dire straights. In Iqaluit and Rivière-la-Paix, employees were lent by the newspaper or the Association canadienne-française de l'Alberta.

Official Languages committee  A review of the community radio policy was very good for the sector, both for campus and community radio stations. The new policy provides for greater accessibility and is also much simpler for radio stations to administer. In terms of flexibility in programming, I am not certain that we have achieved what we wanted, because we asked for certain things.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely, Yes.

Official Languages committee  As regards community radio, we would really like to see something in the next Roadmap that deals with community media and would relate specifically to those media. There is currently nothing in the Roadmap—or at least, only passing reference to them. Obviously, base funding is fundamental for us.

Official Languages committee  I can tell you that last year was an extremely trying year with respect to advertising, because a choice had already been made: it was the year of television and the Internet. Radio stations and newspapers paid the price, and it was a very stiff price. There was a drop of more than 85% in revenues from the federal government.

Official Languages committee  Needs are not specifically associated with either small or large markets: they are the same, whether we are talking about Shediac, in New Brunswick, where things are going well, or in Yellowknife, where the station has only one half-employee and is very dire straights. In fact, our large radio stations serve to support the small ones.

Official Languages committee  There is no doubt that they represent the future of our radio stations. It is extremely important to involve young people in our stations. Often, student radio stations in the schools record programs that we broadcast on our radio stations. Also, we invite young people to come in and produce programs in our radio stations, either in the evening or on the week-ends.

Official Languages committee  Yes, you can also hear it in Iqaluit. That gives us an opportunity to disseminate the culture of all of our communities across all communities. Obviously, we still have some ways to go. Indeed, we would like our radio stations to better reflect our communities, but given our lack of resources, that is quite difficult.

Official Languages committee  First of all, I would like to thank you for your proactive support of francophone radio in Ottawa.

Official Languages committee  In any case, I wanted to thank you. To better reflect the communities we serve, we created a platform for artists. I will let Simon tell you more about it, because he is the one who developed it. The service we provide to the Alliance des radios communautaires du Canada consists of a programming exchange.

Official Languages committee  It is CKXL in Winnipeg and Saint Boniface. It's the only radio station.

Official Languages committee  It was in 2007.

Official Languages committee  No.

Official Languages committee  Yes, but I am not able to tell you what the status of that process is. Part of the plan of the fund managers is to meet with government officials.

Official Languages committee  In fact, none of our stations receives recurring funding. Only one station in Manitoba receives a small annual contribution through the Canada-communities agreement.