LANG Committee News Release

 

 

NEWS RELEASE

 

 

Standing Committee on Official Languages presents a report on the CRTC

OTTAWA, February 6, 2003 – A report entitledRole and responsibilities of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) in developments in the area of official languages in Canada was presented today to the House of Commons by the Standing Committee on Official Languages. The report contains five recommendations dealing with broadcasting in both official languages.

“It is important to remember that a number of CRTC broadcasting decisions have had a direct impact on the development and vitality of official‑language communities in Canada. For this reason, the Committee intends to do its part to ensure that the CRTC fulfils its responsibilities under the Official Languages Act” said Mauril Bélanger, Committee Chair.

The Committee recommends that the CRTC develop a concept of “bilingual market”, which would make it possible to provide better service to the Anglophone and Francophone audiences comprising a considerable portion of the local population. In its report, the Committee also identifies problems with regard to the distribution of the regional and local stations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) / Société Radio-Canada (SRC) by direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service providers. At present, some Canadian households do not have access to their regional CBC / SRC television stations. The Committee therefore recommends that the CRTC correct these shortcomings as quickly as possible.

The Committee also reiterated two requests that have been brought to the government’s attention in the past. It reiterated its desire to have the Government of Canada add the CRTC to the list of designated federal institutions, in order to ensure the implementation of section 41 of the Official Languages Act. A motion to this end was passed by the former Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages in May 1998. With regard to the Cable Public Affairs Channel (CPAC), the Committee recommends that the Governor in Council  by order direct the CRTC to make it mandatory for all broadcasting distribution undertakings to distribute the debates of Parliament via CPAC in both official languages. The previous Joint Committee addressed this issue in its report entitled The Broadcasting and Availability of the Debates and Proceedings of Parliament in Both Official Languages, presented in the spring of 2001. Lastly, the Committee recommends that the CPAC signal be protected from displacement by closed-circuit video programming in hotels.

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages is made up of sixteen Members of Parliament. It is chaired by Mr. Mauril Bélanger, MP for Ottawa–Vanier.

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For information, contact: Marc-Olivier Girard Clerk, Standing Committee on Official Languages (613) 996-2441

Caroline LeBlanc Legislative Assistant to Mauril Bélanger, MP (613) 992-4766