I think the motion is self-explanatory. Ontario and Quebec have carried out a study. We saw that they were united and defended Radio-Canada.

We are increasingly seeing that Radio-Canada is having difficulty fulfilling its mandate under the Official Languages Act. Our committee has four members from Quebec and four from Ontario. Sorry, Mr. Williamson, you are not part of that group. Mr. Chong, I forgot about you! You are the fifth member from Ontario.

People from francophone minority communities have told us that they had access to programming in French, but that the coverage focused on Montreal. For instance, they were being given Montreal traffic reports!

Yes, it's in French, and yes, they can hear French on the public airwaves, but their experiences in their own regions are not really being covered. I think it would be a good idea to start focusing more on stories from our regions. I find Radio-Canada's service in Quebec to be terrific, but the broadcaster has problems outside Quebec. I think francophones outside Quebec want to hear their own stories, their own voices in their regions.

Mr. Gravelle, who is sitting next to me, lives in northern Ontario. I think that large region could be a source of many francophone stories broadcast on public television across the country. However, investments are needed for that. When cuts are made and the public broadcaster's funding is limited, the quality of services in regions outside Quebec drops off.

I think the report and the study Quebec and Ontario produced together highlights the fact that we have a long way to go. I know there isn't much time left in this Parliament, but the committee will exist until the election is called. So we could hold one or two special meetings to carry out this study, so as to explore what we can do in coming years to promote the public broadcaster in the regions of the country where francophone communities want to hear their own voices.

Jamie Nicholls