Canadian Heritage committee  There is no rule of three that says that private broadcasters would benefit if the CBC/Radio-Canada ended its reliance on advertising. France Télévisions' recent experience illustrates this perfectly. The advertising that France Télévisions no longer sold did not automatically tr

Canadian Heritage committee  As far as Longueuil and the North Shore/South Shore initiative is concerned, we feel that the CBC/Radio-Canada is not active or present enough in these heavily populated regions. Not only do we need journalists, we need something else as well. Increasingly, residents of the commu

Canadian Heritage committee  Let me first say that we agree with you that we are investing much more heavily in the digital arena than in new specialty channels, especially given that specialty channels more or less fund themselves. Radio-Canada's Artv model is self-financed through fees and advertising reve

Canadian Heritage committee  We testified before the CRTC to convey what a disservice this policy does to the public broadcaster, especially given how scattered the francophone population is throughout Canada. Yes, the bulk of it is in Quebec, but we cannot very well decide not to serve French speakers in Va

Canadian Heritage committee  First of all, we take it very seriously. It is important to note that Les chefs! is not an informative program, but a variety show. So there is a big difference there. Had the same been said about an information program, it would have been dealt with very quickly. That said, the

Canadian Heritage committee  Naturally, that is a key part of our mandate and something that differentiates our French service. For example, roughly 12 of our 20 radio stations are outside Quebec. So it is important to understand that we play a crucial role as the only provider of French-language radio in th

Canadian Heritage committee  It is interesting, because historically, Radio-Canada's television programming has never been as distinctive as it is today, nor has it relied on American shows as little as it does today. I am old enough to remember watching Docteur Marcus Welby (originally Marcus Welby, M.D.),

Canadian Heritage committee  In the short term, the agreements are doing well. The problem is more the entire issue of vertical integration. A form of oligopoly is currently emerging in Canada. In the long term, will we still have the distribution guarantee that we should have? In the long run, won't we be y

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, I would find that consistent, on the one hand, with the Broadcasting Act and, on the other hand, with the Local Programming Improvement Fund, the purpose of which is to enrich and permit the production of local content. I believe that fund is one of the great ideas that has

Canadian Heritage committee  Incidentally, it's true that, from a practical standpoint, it's an understatement to say that the position this group occupies is a good topic for discussion. The entire issue of the diversity of voices is very important, especially in the specific context of Quebec, even more th

Official Languages committee  No, negotiations with CTV didn't go there. In fact, there was a start of a negotiation to see whether there was any possibility, and the answer was no. So we didn't go to the point at which we would say we'd do 40 or 50 hours, and we didn't cost it.

Official Languages committee  It's difficult, because we don't have the rights, so we don't have to ask the question—unless there's a deal; then we'll work it through.

Official Languages committee  Mr. Galipeau, I would just like to add something. To build on what Hubert Lacroix just said, we have had very good discussions with them. Monday, they told members of the Senate Committee that they had resolved the problem—here I am responding to Ms. Guay, who was saying earlier

Official Languages committee  In my opinion, it will not be possible for them to fulfill those conditions. In theory, once they have resolved the problem for the 12,000 Francophones outside Quebec, they will still have to find a solution for Anglophones in Quebec who are receiving the CTV signal. That problem

Official Languages committee  If people in Gatineau are not using the Bell service, that is not our choice. It would be very difficult to find a system. Even CBC/Radio-Canada's system only reaches 98 or 99% of Canadians. There are always some areas that are very difficult to cover, although we naturally try t