Official Languages committee  Without a doubt, we are absolutely delighted with it. In terms of the roadmap, we endorse practically the entire presentation that the Fédération culturelle canadienne-française made to you last week. Clearly, because of the cultural development fund, the francophone community in Ontario, and in a wider sense, in Canada, has benefited from funds that were absolutely necessary.

Official Languages committee  I totally agree with what my colleague said. Radio-Canada is essential for literature and for all other areas of artistic creation, whether the contribution be in the development of dance, the visual arts, or theatre or music. Think of the APCM music gala, for example. I feel that Radio-Canada has been an absolutely essential player in promoting Franco-Ontarian music through its association with APCM.

Official Languages committee  I don't know.

Official Languages committee  I cannot tell you.

Official Languages committee  Have you been to the RECF site, the Regroupement des...?

Official Languages committee  I think so.

Official Languages committee  If I may, I am going to quote Jeff Dayton-Johnson, from Dalhousie University. In a 2000 study for Heritage Canada, Mr. Dayton-Johnson was himself quoting UNESCO when he said that cultural products are not commodities like others. The study states that “…markets for cultural products cannot be expected to meet the conditions under which purely market-mediated production will be the most efficient.”

Official Languages committee  A bookstore in Casselman closed too. So did the Librairie du Nouvel-Ontario, Grand Ciel Bleu, in Sudbury. Really, a clear and precise purchasing policy that would allow books to be carried in bookstores close to the institutions that ordered them would allow those stores to maintain their presence since most of their revenue comes from sales to those institutions.

Official Languages committee  Of the four or five publishing houses here in Ottawa… It's a long process. Actually, the technology is not all there yet. It is not yet mainstream enough, so to speak, for all the technologies to be harmonized. There are also security questions in terms of making products available online as opposed to making them available in stores or from distributors.

Official Languages committee  Yes.