Unedited copy

[Recorded by Electronic Apparatus]

Thursday, November 8, 2001

[English]

The Chair (Mr. Clifford Lincoln (Lac-Saint-Louis, Lib.)): May I call the meeting to order, please. I'd like to declare open a meeting of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage.

[Français]

Le Comité permanent du patrimoine canadien qui se réunit aujourd'hui pour continuer son étude de l'état du système de radiodiffusion canadien.

[English]

To consider the study on the state of the Canadian Broadcasting System.

We are very pleased today to have the minister with us, Minister of Canadian Heritage, accompanied by two witnesses from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Mr. Michael Wernick, who has appeared before us several times before, the Assistant Deputy Minister, Cultural Development, and Mr. Marc O'Sullivan, Director General, Broadcasting Policy and Innovation.

[Français]

Madame la ministre, on est particulièrement heureux de vous avoir ic vu l'importance de notre étude que vous avez appuyée avec beaucoup de conviction, et nous sommes heureux que vous soyez la première personne à ouvrir nos audiences publiques.

[English]

We are really pleased that you are going to launch our public hearings. As you know, we took a long, long time to prepare for this day. It's been nearly a year since we started working on it. I think we've been very thorough in our preparation. I think we're ready for the public hearings and we're extremely pleased that you will launch these. Thank you for being here. The floor is yours.

Hon. Sheila Copps (Minister of Canadian Heritage, Hamilton East, Lib.): Thank you, Mr. Chairman. First of all, I want to thank the committee for this opportunity to be here and I especially want to thank the committee for the incredible work that they did in a different piece of legislation in a different context.

One of the things that is fascinating about the work in Canadian Heritage and, I think, is especially fascinating about the committee is that we do work primarily on consensus, we have examined issues as wide ranging as the national park system, the Canada park system, the Canada marine and conservation areas and now, broadcasting in Canada. So, we have members of Parliament who have a wide range of experience and I hope...and I believe, Mr. Chair, that this work that you are undertaking will be the most important work ever undertaken by a parliamentary committee in my time in parliament.

Broadcasting is of extraordinary importance in a country as diverse and as geographically large as Canada. We live in a country which brings together citizens from more than 150 national cultures, and we live in a society which has never had a civil war, a society in which citizens from different religions, different regions, different ethnic backgrounds, different walks of life communicate with each other, and through that communication make Canada a beacon of hope in the world.

[Français]

La radiodiffusion est le principal moyen par lequel les Canadiennes et les Canadiens en apprennent davantage sur eux, leurs concitoyens et le monde. La radiodiffusion est le principal moyen par lequel nos enfants découvrent notre histoire, nos valeurs et notre diversité.

Au cours des prochains mois, j'espère que nous garderons en tête ces réalités importantes. J'espère que nous regarderons la situation dans son ensemble. Jetons d'abord un regard instructif sur les milieux de la radiodiffusion au Canada.

[English]

Much has changed since the Broadcasting Act was adopted a decade ago. We're dealing with new digital technologies, new services, globalization, media mergers, convergence, Internet, World Wide Web, these are incredible new horizons which we need to chart. As we seek to advance Canadian values, we do so in an area in which the scope of change and the pace of technologies are unprecedented. In just one decade, the world has undergone a geopolitical transformation.

Ten years ago, when Parliament last amended this act, there was no Internet, there was no Web, there was no 500 channel universe. A decade ago, who would have thought that MTV would be the largest broadcasting network in the world, reaching 340 million preteens and teens every day. A decade ago, who would have thought that a telephone company would be paying Lloyd Roberstson's (xxxóverify) salary. You will be examining the means of distribution, you will be looking at vertical convergence, horizontal convergence.

[Français]

Je vous demande précisément de rester attentif parce que votre travail est le plus important travail d'un comité parlementaire depuis que je suis venue au Parlement. Notre collaboration nous a déjà permis de réaliser des progrès sur un certains nombres de points comme nous avions fait dernièrement avec les parcs marins.

Prenez par exemple votre rapport sur la culture, appartenance et identité. Ce rapport a permis au Premier ministre d'annoncer en mai dernier un investissement de 560 millions de dollars, nouveau dans les arts et la culture. Un investissement qui a fait boule de neige, pas seulement au Canada, mais à travers le monde.