Canadian Heritage committee  That would be more your—

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes.

Canadian Heritage committee  Generally speaking, if you're talking across the board about all sectors, I would agree with you. The two challenges my members have right across the board, whether they're English or French, are cash flow and access to capital. We're not selling furniture. We're selling an intan

Canadian Heritage committee  Oh, geez—answering cultural protection in half a minute.

Canadian Heritage committee  The only thing is that it's obviously the right thing to do. I mean, that protects our rights around the world. It sets a precedent for other trade negotiations, now and in the future. It echoes the principles of what we have with the EU trade agreement, with the original NAFTA,

Canadian Heritage committee  Well, taking private copying as an example, in part we're saying that it should be technologically neutral, because we don't know what the technology will be five or 10 years down the road. I think the fact that the act has a built-in review clause every five years is very import

Canadian Heritage committee  I think before you there is a document we distributed on behalf of, I think, 19 music industry associations. We submitted it to the Department of Canadian Heritage in the fall. SODRAC is a signatory; CIMA is a signatory, as are CMPA and many others. We have broken down these reco

Canadian Heritage committee  Please.

Canadian Heritage committee  There are so many answers to that. There are so many nuances to that broad question. We were encouraged by the CRTC report last week. We know the Broadcasting Act is going to be reviewed over the next year, and the CRTC report is hopefully going to form the basis of that review o

Canadian Heritage committee  I think the most straightforward answer to that is that the author's rights, in this case, shouldn't be used as a bargaining chip in trade. It's the right thing to do. It already has its strength in our partners around the world, our competition around the world. The U.S. and the

Canadian Heritage committee  I'm not sure I'm prepared to deal with hypotheticals today, sir. We can go all day about hypotheticals.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes it is. The current proposed wording is being worked on right now. I believe my colleague Graham Henderson was here last week talking about the same thing.

Canadian Heritage committee  Yes, and they're putting together some language that hopefully will be before you in short order. We're working on that right now.

Canadian Heritage committee  No, of course not. The year 1997 was a different era for Canada's radio broadcasters, private radio broadcasters, the commercial broadcasters—CBC, as an example, is exempt from this exemption—but it was a different day. As you pointed out, there were many more mom-and-pop station

Canadian Heritage committee  Do you want me to take that, or do you want to start with your perspective?