Notes for a speech to the Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications from the Quebec English-language Production Council November 27, 2024 My name is Arnie Gelbart. I am a producer and run Galafilm. My name is Kirwan Cox, and I am the Executive Director of the Quebec English-language Production Council. We represent the official language minority film and TV production industry in Quebec.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak before this Senate Committee today about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and its value to the Official Language Minority (OLMC) in Quebec, a minority representing 15% of the Quebec population across the province. Just as it is for the French minority outside of Quebec, the CBC is key to our identity and sense of place as Canadians- on-line, on radio, and on television. CBC's public service media is critical to the "vitality" and cultural survival of our community as guaranteed by

Section of the Official Languages Act. Not since has our national sovereignty been under greater threat than it is now. Our defences have never been weaker. Foreign platforms are fighting Canadian regulatory control over media in Canada. We are threatened with a 25% tariff on all goods by the new U.S. President. Canadian private conventional TV broadcasters lost a record $417 million in 2023. Cumulatively, the industry has lost $2.8 billion over the last 18 years 1. The future of Canadian commercial media is in doubt Linear TV viewing has fallen by 41% over the last decade and radio listening by 34%.

"TV" viewing has shifted on-line, mostly to American companies. 94% of Canadian internet advertising goes to foreign platforms2. In the face of this global media storm, local news has been decimated. Hundreds of newspapers have closed, and those that remain are a pale shadow of their former selves3. Local news deserts are spreading. Social media, rife with misinformation, is not a reliable alternative. We have never needed trusted Canadian media more than now. Where is our national champion? Where is the CBC?

It is slowly starving to death in a plethora of mandates, and shrinking resources. 1 Means and Ways, "Canada's private broadcasters see record losses in 2023: Statcan", May 27, 2024 CBC, "Structural Decline of Linear TV Viewing in Canada, and the Shift Toward Online Video Platforms", April 2024, p.9,11, 21 Ibid, " Since 2008, over news outlets have closed in communities across Canada. Some communities have no news, and are now classified as 'news deserts'.” p.24 Some Senators complain that with $1.2 billion in public funding, the CBC should be doing more. Let's put that in perspective.

Since when the current Broadcasting Act was passed, CBC has lost 37% of its public funding4 in constant dollars. In public service media spending, we rank 17th per capita among countries. We have two official languages, and CBC also broadcasts in Indigenous languages. We spend only $32 per capita vs an average of $78 per capita by those countries. In 2022, BBC received $6.6 billion in public funding. Germany nearly $11.9 billion, Japan $6.8 billion, and France $4.7 billion. 5 Why so much? Because public service media is key to cultural sovereignty, and national identity.

That year, CBC got $1.2 billion, and we are the ones sitting next to Hollywood, mostly without a language barrier. At the regional level, how does CBC's underfunding affect independent OLMC programming? One award-winning doc producer, a member of our Council, received $141,000 licence fee from CBC in 2015, and in received $61,000 for an equivalent program. That is a loss of 57% in constant dollars over nine years 6. How does a producer make up for this loss? With more funding from foreign sources who may not be interested in local, regional, or even national Canadian subjects.

The CBC has many problems, especially in English television. Most are caused by chronic underfunding. But, we must ask ourselves, without the CBC, where would we be? Even more than now, our news, our stories, even our prejudices, would be filtered through the American lens. If CBC's English TV service were eliminated, as some recommend, we would ask: "What would replace it?" Bankrupt private Canadian broadcasters? American streamers? Nothing? We would consider the elimination of CBC to be a breach, not only of the Broadcasting Act, but of the Official Languages Act.

We would take any action available to us to defend our rights under the OLA. In fact, to defend our right to survive as an official language minority, and more importantly, as Canadians. Thank you. 4 CBC, "Public Purpose in a Digital Future", October 2, 2024, Fig. 19, CPI, 1991=100% 5 Nordicity, "International Comparison of Public Funding for Public Service Broadcasting 2022", Prepared for CBC/Radio-Canada, Sept., 12, 2024. 6 CPI, 2024=100% Federal government economic support of culture - real dollars Source: Nordicity estimates based on data from Statistics Canada, Public Accounts of Canada and CBC/Radio-Canada.

(1) Other culture includes all federal government expenditures on culture and broadcasting, excluding payments to CBC/Radio-Canada.

(2) CBC/Radio-Canada includes annual parliamentary appropriation. Federal government expenditures and economic support of culture, real (inflation-adjusted) dollars, 1991 = 100 Real (inflation- adjusted) dollars Figures have been adjusted to remove the effects of consumer price inflation over time 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 '91 '93 '95 '97 '99 '01 '03 '05 '07 '09 '11 '13 '15 '17 '19 '21 '23 1991=100 Fiscal year ending in Other culture

(1) CBC/Radio- Canada

(2) Appendix A