Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
First, I would like to introduce the people who are with me today. They are Ms. LaRocque, my Deputy Minister, whom you know, and Jean-Pierre Blais, who is our Assistant Deputy Minister. There's also my entire team of experts. If there are any technical questions I can't answer, please don't hesitate to ask them. And if we don't have the answers, we'll be pleased to send them to you. You should not forget that, despite my experience in Quebec, I've only been responsible for this department for four months. I unfortunately don't have all the answers, but I will.
Madam Chair, I'm pleased to speak before the new committee. I would like to congratulate you and all the members of the committee who are here. I'm sincerely pleased to see you again and to work with you. My parliamentary secretary, Ms. Bulte, is here as well. I believe that culture is well represented on this committee.
I must tell you that, day after day, I recognize how fortunate I am to hold this position. Since the summer, I have had the opportunity to meet people like you who are devoted to arts, culture and heritage. As elected officials, our specific duty is to give them policies and programs that fit their ambitions and their expectations. And that is exactly what I intend to do in carrying out the mandate entrusted to me by our Prime Minister, with your cooperation, I'm sure. I know that it is a big challenge, and I speak from experience, since I held a similar position in the Government of Quebec. Today, however, the scale of the task is taking on another dimension. It covers the entire country, and includes all the issues connected with our culture and our identity.
The portfolio for which I am responsible includes the Department of Canadian Heritage and 18 Crown corporations and governmental groups. The Canadian Heritage Portfolio deals with questions of importance to society as a whole. I am referring to intercultural relations, the impact of culture on our quality of life and our prosperity, the preservation of our modes of expression, the place of artists in our society, the development of sport, and still more. Its field of responsibility is broad, including official and Aboriginal languages, artistic creation, museums, broadcasting and multiculturalism. Furthermore, my department includes the major institutions mandated to promote the growth of our culture, such as the CBC, the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada and the National Film Board.
As Minister of Canadian Heritage, I have set three main objectives for myself. They are: encouraging creativity; making arts and culture more accessible; and promoting our cultural identity nationally and internationally.
We can't talk about culture without recognizing the crucial role played by artists and creative people; they are the raw material of culture. Today, prosperity is the outcome of new ideas, and our creative people, our artists, are our greatest source of innovation. Our cultural industries rely on their ideas, their talent, their vision, their courage, and their commitment.
This was the context for the launch of the Tomorrow Starts Today initiative in 2001. Tomorrow Starts Today is the Government of Canada's most significant investment in culture since the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts. This initiative has enabled us to support our creative people and to ensure that culture flourishes in our communities. The various programs of the initiative have helped to raise the profile of artists in our communities, build the capacity of arts and cultural organizations, and create new and upgraded cultural spaces.
The effectiveness and necessity of these programs were recognized by my provincial and territorial counterparts at our most recent meeting last month in Halifax.
It cannot be denied that Tomorrow Starts Today has enabled us to achieve notable progress. All over Canada, performance halls, cultural institutions, festivals, art schools, publishing houses and theatres have received our support. The projects number in the thousands, and they have yielded extraordinary benefits in cultural as well as economic and social terms.
During my appearance before the Committee of the Whole last week, I was delighted to hear members of the Opposition tell me plainly that they wanted to see this program renewed. The member for Durham, Bev Oda, even said, and I quote, “This side of the House has never indicated it does not support the program. In fact, what we want is to ensure that the maximum dollars are going to those it was intended to support.” I thank her for that statement.
In fact, that is what my department has done ever since the launch of Tomorrow Starts Today. Audits conducted by independent firms prove that our programs are extremely well managed. On average, the administrative costs for all the Tomorrow Starts Today programs are slightly less than 11 percent. And we are going to continue in this direction, because we know that each dollar invested in culture is a dollar that helps to stimulate creativity, enhance the quality of life and promote economic growth.
Today, the cultural sector accounts for 740,000 jobs and $28 billion in economic activity. Those are remarkable statistics, especially when we recall that the Government of Canada spends an average of only $3 billion on culture. This is what is called money well invested; this is what is known as playing the role of a catalyst.
I fully intend to do everything so that culture becomes a still more important pillar of economic activity and the enhancement of the quality of life in our communities.
Our artists must have the means not only to create but also to reach their audiences. One of the ways they can do so is through our broadcasting system, which is one of the most popular and most powerful media for disseminating culture. In Canada, we have everything required to meet this objective. Our broadcasting system is noted for its diversity, and we must make use of it. I truly believe that our television system, whether privately or publicly operated, deserves to be taken as a model.
However, the makeup of Canada's population has changed greatly, and breakthroughs in technology are transforming the world day by day. Our broadcasting system, naturally, must adapt to the new reality.
Moreover, it was this committee, when headed by Clifford Lincoln, that understood an enormous task and drafted an enlightening report on the future of the broadcasting system. This report contains 97 recommendations. Some are complex and require further reflection. Others require additional funding.
Recently, your committee adopted the conclusions of the report, asking for a more detailed response from the Government. Today I wish to tell you that I support your request. I am thoroughly familiar with the content of the report since I myself contributed to it as a member of the committee. In the next few months, our Government will have the opportunity to highlight its priorities and its immediate actions on broadcasting. I will see that it does. It is important to establish priorities to improve the focus of our actions.
In its response published a little more than a year go, the Government undertook to ensure that Canadian programs are watched by larger Canadian audiences, to improve management of the Canadian Television Fund and increase cooperation between the organizations and programs that seek to support the broadcasting system. I share these objectives. In this regard, in a speech that I gave in Montreal a few weeks ago before the leading figures in Quebec television and film, I undertook to work unceasingly for the renewal of funding for the Canadian Television Fund.
Over the past years, the fund has shown that in attracting audiences, popularity and quality are not mutually exclusive. Since 1996, the Canadian Television Fund has put $1.7 billion into the production of 18,000 hours of programs in English, French and Aboriginal languages. The total value of these productions is $6 billion.
We are soon going to examine the governance of the fund. As soon as a new director of Telefilm Canada is named, we will work together with industry leaders to find the best solution possible.
Also central to our broadcasting system is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Our government has always recognized its vital role. The CBC must continue to play a key role in our efforts to have a television system that reflects our own lives. Its role is both difficult and important. It cannot simply imitate private sector television. The CBC must continue to innovate, explore, and surprise, and it must do so in circumstances of high expectations and limited resources.
In the field of television, I have already taken measures concerning the question of foreign third-language services. During its study of the question, the CRTC will consider the conclusions of the expert group that I named during the summer.
Your committee is also studying a bill drafted by the department to modernize and clarify the mandate of Telefilm Canada.
Other challenges await us. I am thinking in particular of foreign ownership within our broadcasting system, or copyright, or part II licence fees, or Internet piracy. These are complex questions on which opinions differ, but one thing is clear: we need to show vision and go beyond merely economic concerns. A few examples come to mind.
On the issue of downloading music from the Web, ultimately it is our artists who pay the price. Besides, this morning I met some of the members of the Music in Canada Coalition, for which this is a primary issue of concern. We must give our creative people the means to be remunerated for their work. This is why the Department of Canadian Heritage is working together with the Department of Industry to modernize the Copyright Act. We must achieve a fair balance between the needs of creative people and those of consumers.
I also await with impatience the findings of studies of the Senate Committee now examining the issue of media concentration. The issue has lately aroused a good deal of interest among both the public and journalists. Convergence is another issue that concerns me. We must ensure that this phenomenon does not threaten the capacity of the industry to maintain our diversity of viewpoints. Once the Senate Committee has tabled its report, probably in December, I may ask you, if you are willing, to study the issue. I'm going to do everything in my power to ensure that culture is not neglected, neither in Canada nor abroad.
A debate currently drawing attention is undoubtedly that on cultural diversity. I firmly believe that each country must be able to adopt its own cultural policies and have the means to protect its own modes of expression. This is why I am committed to working for adoption of the International Convention on the Protection of the Diversity of Cultural Contents and Artistic Expressions within UNESCO. Not to protect culture is to put our souls up for auction.
During the meeting of Canada's ministers responsible for culture in October, I conveyed to my colleagues the significance and scope of the convention. A resolution proposed by Saskatchewan and seconded by Alberta assured me of their support. Since then, the Provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island, as well as the Territory of Yukon, have given us their views on the preliminary draft convention. As for Quebec, from the outset it has made an outstanding contribution to this issue.
Last week we submitted to UNESCO the Canadian position on the preliminary draft. This is where we are; much work lies ahead.
I ask you to share with me your thoughts on the different issues that have to do with my portfolio. You will always find a receptive ear from me.
We can now answer your questions, myself and the people here with me. The floor is yours.