Canadian Heritage committee  I don't disagree with what you said. Your observations are bang on. We divide our market into two parts. First of all, there is the demographic that actually still reads the paper. You have to have something tangible in your hand. That is someone who wants to have something to l

Canadian Heritage committee  The advertising has a consequence of essentially helping the economic viability of the entity that receives the advertising, but government advertising is different from private industry advertising because there isn't a return on investment component associated with government a

Canadian Heritage committee  I gave four separate indications in my presentation about where the government can be involved. The ad buy is one. It makes a big difference to us. It doesn't make very much difference to some of the big companies, quite frankly. You had one here, and I know the president well, P

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you very much. First of all, it's important for one very essential reason, and that is that the Government of Canada is actually playing in the market. It takes money and it distributes money. It conducts programs, whatever the government program, and it informs its citize

Canadian Heritage committee  The program allows for third-language publication and local publications, but it excludes dailies. We're a daily, even though we're a third language. We're essentially a community paper. We're a much larger community paper than most others, but we can't qualify, and that brought

Canadian Heritage committee  The government already makes substantial contributions to the marketplace, and it does so willingly when it makes its ad buys or, as you've heard others say, what they do is tax some and not others. The presentations this morning were pretty explicit. They said to bring equitab

Canadian Heritage committee  How does that help anybody's revenue stream, including the government's? If that's an action that's replicated here in Canada—and I think a presenter before us made that case—at the very least balance off what you're going to do. How can you do it? You can tax them and thereby

Canadian Heritage committee  —Government of Canada ad buy is not insignificant for us. Of the $100 million spent last fiscal year, on a per capita basis some $4 to $5 million would have been spent through our language media. It's gone somewhere else. Even if one were to accept the argument—and we do not—tha

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you.

Canadian Heritage committee  Before we begin, first of all, thank you very much. Your pronunciation wasn't all that bad. You're forgiven. Mr. Dan Montesano is accompanying me. He's the chair of the community advisory committee board. I'll be doing most of the speaking. Without further ado, Madam Chair and