Canadian Heritage committee  There are two different things here. First off, we can't actually judge—to use your word, sir—the axing of the CBC Radio Orchestra. What we can do, though, is show Canadians and make them hear what the priorities and the investment of the dollars that used to go to fund this orchestra will do to classical music in this country, by exposing Canadians to other symphony orchestras in the country.

Canadian Heritage committee  In English and French.

Canadian Heritage committee  In the normal course of the annual review of our policies, every time we can improve, it's a pleasure for us to do so. That's what we're implementing. It's easier to document expenses with the new system. With the policies, we're continuing to improve documentation, and it will be even clearer and more readily accessible.

Canadian Heritage committee  Simply, from what I understand, the way we report costing--and we're working on this also--the English services and the French services simply don't have the same reporting system. So we're trying very hard to make sure that the information is easier to compare and easier to report.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Chairman, Mr. Malo was right to say that Ms. Mourani had a lot of supplementary questions to ask me. Allow me to try to answer them quickly. With regard to the physical location, your question is very specific. I don't have the answer, but I'll be pleased to do a follow-up for you to determine what kind of environment we offer our people.

Canadian Heritage committee  Madam Fry, thank you for the question. Let me go to the second part first. Let's talk about expanding radio service into different communities. As you know, and you alluded to it in your report, Mr. Rabinovitch showed up here with his management team--the key guys being around me--and told you as a committee that it was really an important aspect of our lives to try to expand radio service to the 8 million Canadians that we could reach in adding our services into about 15 different communities.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Abbott, it's about culture. Authors, music, dance, sports--these are all about what we are. Our mandate is to make sure we promote Canadian culture to Canadians, that they can see, in all of the services we render, themselves, that they can understand. And in an environment like ours, where we have a very changing landscape in Canada, we have to make sure that we can understand who the public is and that their desires and needs are changing.

Canadian Heritage committee  I will ask Richard, please, to answer that question.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Siksay, thank you for allowing me to address these two important questions. I know they've been on your mind, and they've been on the minds of everybody, particularly but not exclusively in the western part of Canada. Let me deal with this in two blocks; first off, the block about Radio 2.

Canadian Heritage committee  I can assure you that we have no intention of not being transparent in handling requests. That's definitely not the way we currently handle requests. We were surprised by the volume. We're trying to solve this problem, and that's why we've just hired new employees.

Canadian Heritage committee  I explained to you that 73 of the 580 requests that we've received are pending. The other 150 or 170 are not closed files and are also part of the process. I'm not aware—

Canadian Heritage committee  —of that specific case. If you want to send me a copy, I'll be pleased to follow it up.

Canadian Heritage committee  The investment amounts to nearly $1 million, $250,000 of which comes from the six unions and $100,000 from a federal government grant under the employer-employee partnership program. The rest of the money comes from Radio-Canada.

Canadian Heritage committee  I assure you that our workshops on respect are recognized as places where people work hard. They learn things there. Through this exercise, I really hope to improve the day-to-day work of our employees.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Coderre, that kind of question concerns our programming and the way we manage our business, as well as the independence we show in our day-to-day activities. Mr. Chairman, allow me not to answer that question. I believe that would be justified.