Official Languages committee  I'm very pleased that you've raised that question because I have all kinds of information with me this morning. Part of that information was given to you by Richard Stursberg. We could forward it to you again and inform you that, in the past two years, the number of times that the CBC—the CBC alone—has presented francophones in the context of galas or programs from our transcultural fund or joint projects between the CBC and Radio-Canada.

Official Languages committee  Absolutely.

Official Languages committee  First, I remind you of the answer to the first question you asked me on the extent of the programming independence that we enjoy under the Broadcasting Act. Mr. Nadeau, that 44-minute summary was prepared by CBC programmers whose job it was, and which they did properly, to summarize the Hall of Fame Gala in 44 minutes for an anglophone audience.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Nadeau, the people who listened to Radio-Canada radio, which is in fact CBC radio, both Radio One, which presented a summary of it, and Radio Two, which broadcast it in full over three and a quarter hours, heard the francophone singers, heard the speeches of the individuals inducted into the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame.

Official Languages committee  I repeat that the purpose of Richard Stursberg's speech was to explain to you that that program had a mandate, just as the main purpose of all other programs is to build bridges between anglophones and francophones. That was not the purpose of that program that evening.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Coderre, there are two aspects to your question. Mr. Richard Stursberg tried to explain to the committee that every Radio-Canada program has a specific mandate, whether it is a summary of the gala that we did, which was intended for an anglophone audience, or the program Tout le monde en parle, which is broadcast on Sunday evenings, which is intended more particularly for the Quebec audience, because that is its mandate.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Coderre, you're right: radio is a much better medium for promoting or broadcasting a gala of this kind. As you said, Radio Two broadcast the entire gala. As for next year, I don't know what the gala organizers will come and tell us, but I repeat—and I said so this morning in my introduction—that we understood and saw certain things that we did in the context of that gala which could have been improved.

Official Languages committee  Good morning. Thank you very much. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, I understand you would like to talk this morning about the mandate of CBC/Radio-Canada and the recent broadcast of the Canadian Songwriters' Gala on our airwaves. I have been President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada for five months now and I can tell you I am keenly aware of our responsibility to serve French and English-speaking Canadians.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Chairman, can I address that?

Canadian Heritage committee  I would be pleased to do so, madam. I would ask you to be a little more specific about the question you asked me. You asked me a number of questions on access to information. If you ask me those questions specifically, I'll be pleased to answer them in the best way possible.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely.

Canadian Heritage committee  Absolutely. A number of people worked with me in delivering my remarks. The word “company” for me means the environment in which we work. We are a public broadcaster, but we are a corporation. Where I come from, “corporation” and “company” are synonyms.

Canadian Heritage committee  Mr. Siksay, with all respect, we are not driving Radio 2 into the ground.

Canadian Heritage committee  The definition of “corporation” is found in the federal Companies Act. The French translation of “corporation” is “compagnie”. In my way of viewing the business, “company” and “corporation” are synonyms. Mr. Coderre, I hope that that—

Canadian Heritage committee  No doubt, sir. In your report, one of the recommendations that came out of this committee was an increase from $33 to $40 per capita, which would have been an increase, if we use your numbers, of about $200 million for CBC/Radio-Canada. This obviously would be a welcome improvement.