Finance committee  Public broadcasting throughout the world accompanies democracy. There are no free and democratic countries without public broadcasters. Some are stronger and some are weaker, but that is the case. My answer to you is that I would urge the minister to reflect on this matter. I do

Finance committee  Mr. Brison, it doesn't really matter what I think. That's the law of the land, as I quoted in my presentation, and there are good reasons for it. It was, of course, under Mr. Mulroney's government that those reasons were advanced into law, but—

Finance committee  You're even more familiar with it than I am, sir.

Finance committee  I just want to say that the government has ample control over the national public broadcaster—I use the word “control” advisedly, or “influence”—through control of the amount of public funds it receives, since something like 70% of its revenue comes from the Canadian taxpayer, an

Finance committee  When you get cuts you get a decline in what is called production values. It happens particularly, Ms. Nash, in smaller centres, not so much in your constituency, but in rural Alberta, for example, or northern British Columbia or rural Newfoundland.

Finance committee  I would put it this way. The statutory basis for the CBC's independence enables collective bargaining that creates conditions of work that defend the autonomy of journalists. For example, a journalist cannot be pulled off a story without a reason. Producers have the right to refu

Finance committee  I would add one thing, Ms. Nash. We know of no other national public broadcaster in any western democracy, in any OECD country, that has any provisions whereby the government of the day can interfere in the conditions of work of its journalists.

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this committee. Eighty-one years ago, a Conservative prime minister introduced public broadcasting in Canada. Fifty-nine years later, a Progressive Conservative prime minister updated the Broadcasting Act for the 21st cen

Information & Ethics committee  That is 12 seconds per issue. On the waste issue, your comment to me was like a time warp. In the 1980s I used to hear that kind of story. Now I hear more stories about “I wish we could afford paper clips. I wish I didn't have to spend time emptying my own garbage can. I wish I

Information & Ethics committee  Sure. By the way, you left out a very important protection for private broadcasters in this country, which is Parliament's protecting them from direct competition from American broadcasters.

Information & Ethics committee  I doubt that a change to the Broadcasting Act would be required for the CRTC to be more forthcoming. Because these industries are regulated, it's important that the CRTC not release information about one company vis-à-vis another—

Information & Ethics committee  —but given that it is industrial information of a regulated nature, the CRTC has the power, in my opinion, if it had the courage, to release more of that information. So to that extent, I don't agree with Konrad von Finckenstein.

Information & Ethics committee  No.

Information & Ethics committee  You've stimulated me to say something strong.

Information & Ethics committee  Page 104 of the most recent annual report, which I cannot distribute because I only have a copy in English, says: CBC/Radio-Canada's Board of Directors is responsible for oversight of the management of the Corporation. In conjunction with the Corporation's senior executive team