Canadian Heritage committee  Good morning. My name is Marc-Philippe Laurin, and I am President of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild. I represent employees at the CBC outside the province of Quebec. In my daily work, I am a technician and associate producer for local CBC radio in Ottawa. I would lik

Canadian Heritage committee  I see Mr. Schellenberger looking at me, but this is the last couple of paragraphs. In closing, we would like to reiterate the three key messages in our presentation. The first message is that CBC/Radio-Canada provides an important public service, and it must be strengthened in

Canadian Heritage committee  Would you please repeat the last part of your question?

Canadian Heritage committee  I think that as of September 1st of this year, Radio-Canada will come under the Access to Information Act. So, as of that date, the general public will have access to all this information. Some decisions have been made, but I cannot speak for Radio-Canada management. Regional an

Canadian Heritage committee  I say that there is really no choice: both must be chosen. At the moment, the regions are broadcasting a lot of news and information, but there is no talk about culture. There are no programs that talk about the people in the regions and the communities, and that is what is missi

Canadian Heritage committee  I'd like to add one little thing to that. I think it also marks a fundamental shift in the CBC's thinking. I think for years the CBC has always hoped to be able to return at some point in time to in-house original programming that it creates and owns, and that it can then display

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, 20 years ago there was a change in government appropriations to the CBC. The budget started getting smaller and smaller, and there was a whole debate about the CBC, co-producers and the CBC, the signing agreements, and the problems that revolved around those issues. But it w

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Chair, CBC/Radio-Canada is a fundamental part of Canada's broadcasting system. The public broadcaster provides 29 local services across the country on the radio, on television and on the Internet. The public broadcaster is, without a doubt, the most important cultural driver

Canadian Heritage committee  CBC expects to lay off 393 people, but we do not yet have the list.

Canadian Heritage committee  It has certainly created some uncertainty.

Canadian Heritage committee  We have some idea of which sections will have layoffs, but people do not know exactly who or which positions will be targeted.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  We were consulted about the process, but we have not yet been informed about which positions and individuals will be affected.

Canadian Heritage committee  Exactly.

Canadian Heritage committee  That is pretty easy to figure out: 800 jobs represents about $60 million.